#ugh hopefully I can start not just reposting things soon

[chibishortdeath]

Wow no way me living up to my username and drawing in a chibi style whoah—

[donutloverxo]

Stevie's new beard

*gif by @marvelheroes*

Birthday shot #2 & Kinktober day 8 - Beard kink

Please note that my work is not to be reposted or published anywhere other than my Tumblr or AO3 account without my permission.

Dividers by @whimsicalrogers

Summary - You have some strong feelings about Steve’s new look.

Warnings - 18+ only please, smut(m/f), dom Steve, daddy kink.

Pairing - Steve Rogers x female reader

Word count - 2.5k

Masterlists are linked in the bio!

One more swift turn over the corner, your eyes squinting as you tried to concentrate, “That’ll show him,” grumbling under your breathe, pressing the scissors down, “done.” With a smirk on your face.

You had been working on cutting out Steve’s face from your honeymoon album. An album you had spent hours on, your blood, sweet and tears, literally, you must’ve gotten like five paper cuts working on it. But none of that mattered. You were mad.

No, you were fuming.

The previous year, you hadn’t been able to celebrate your birthday with Steve since he was called on an emergency mission. Which was fine at the time you had only been dating for a few weeks. And when he went to Siberia over a month ago, you thought he’d be back for your birthday for sure. Then you’d get to have him pamper you and baby you for the whole day, not that you needed such an excuse, but still.

It was one in the morning, your birthday had already started and you doubted that Steve would be able to make it. He had gone silent a week ago, for his teams and your safety.

Well, by the time he’s back you’ll have cut him out of all your pictures. Maybe you’d even go stay at your sister’s for a while. You missed her and needed a vacation and teach Steve a lesson. You wouldn’t be back until he’s growling on his knees - begging for your forgiveness.

Or maybe... he wouldn’t care. Maybe he’d be glad that you’re gone. You didn’t know what you’d do if that happened, you always seem to be weighing him down. You understood that being married to Captain America meant that you had to share him with the rest of the world. Most of times, you were alright with that. You didn’t care much for the Captain, he was fine but he was no Steve Rogers.

You sighed, giving up on your little project, thinking about maybe calling it a night. Hopefully your friends remember your birthday and do something special for you.

Slipping into Steve’s t-shirt – because as much as you were mad at him, you really did miss him. This was the longest you had been away from him.

Fluffing your pillow, keeping Mister Steebie next to you, you climbed on top of it. Ready to switch off the lights -

“Hey there, sweetheart,” you gasped when you heard the low rumble, clutching your neck, taken aback and panting.

Taking a deep breathe, you looked at your door over your shoulder, sighing when you noticed it’s Steve.

Except it wasn’t...?

“What the fuck?” you frowned and did a double take.

Getting off your bed and walking over to the door. He was still dressed in his dark stealth suit, his dirty blonde hair swept back, his jaw covered in a thick beard - a few shades darker than his hair.

You stopped a few steps away from him, taking in his new look. You didn’t know what to make of it but it did make you shiver - for some reason.

Your lips pressed in a flat line as you stared at him. He spread his arms out, in an attempt to hug you, probably, trying to close the distance between you but you took a step back. Eyeing him suspiciously.

“What’s wrong, doll?” he tilted his head to the side, giving you his Disney eyes.

“What’s wrong with your face?” you spat.

“What do you mean?” his eyebrows scrunched together as he rubbed a hand over his beard.

“Don’t do that!” you admonished him, folding your hands under your titts, perking them up.

“Do what?” scratching his beard, “You’re not making any sense, doll. Didn’t you miss me?”

“I did,” you huffed, “Do you know what date it is?”

“Yes, I do know. That’s why I’m here. I got back as soon as the mission wrapped up. Now come here and let me give you a birthday kiss,” extending an arm towards you.

“Nuh-uh,” you shook your head.

“Why?” he pouted. “I made it back in time, just like I said I would. I missed you, come on just one kiss... wait a minute. Is this about the beard?” You nodded. “You hate it? Tony said you would, I just didn’t have time to shave. I’ll go do it now then.” Since he was desperate for kisses and cuddles.

“No, don’t!” You pressed a palm on his chest, in an effort to stop him. “I mean, sure if you want to... but I don’t hate it. It’s kind of the opposite... I think. I just need time to process this.”

“Doll,” he exasperated, sighing, 'politely’ trying to tell you off. “I’m tired. And you’re really not making any sense.”

“I just fucking love your beard, ok!” you snapped. Your cheeks heating up at the brash confession. Clenching your thighs together. You shouldn’t like it as much as you did. It hides Steve’s beautiful face and makes him look so feral and dangerous. So not Steve.

“Really?” he quirked a brow, pulling you flush against his chest, “how much do you like it, puppy?”

“I - I don’t know...” Still embarrassed, you hide your face over his heart, rubbing your cheek against the rough kevlar of his suit. “I like it a lot, I think. Please keep it?”

He hummed, “But you won’t even look at me.”

“It’s a lot to take in, okay? It’s like, ugh remember when you saw me in my wedding dress?”

He'd never forget, he had cried like a baby. “This is nothing like that,” he rolled his eyes.

“It’s... give me some time. Small steps.” Bringing up a shaky hand to touch his soft fuzzy jaw, “Oh! Remember that time I bought that forties style nightie. And you went to town on me?” looking up at him, “This is like that.”

He nodded, finally understanding. “I get it, doll. But I’m afraid I don’t have time for ‘small steps’. I missed you so much,” Rutting his erection into your belly - as if to physically prove it. “And I need to make your birthday special. Treat the birthday girl right, huh?” He pressed his thumb on your cheekbone, caressing it, dipping his neck down to kiss you but you pulled away.

You hugged him again, standing on your tippy toes and nuzzling your nose in the crook his neck, his beard tickling you ever so slightly.

“I thought you wouldn’t make it. That I’d be all alone.” You whined. And then he comes back looking this good! Making it impossible for you to stay mad at him.

“Of course, I made it. Couldn’t let my best girl be alone. Now let me kiss you,” you shook your head again, “fine then. We can do your small steps. Let me eat you out,” biting the shell of your ear, “I’m hungry, doll.”

There was no way you could say no to that. “Oh - okay,” you gulped a huge lump of air.

Suddenly, he swept you off your feet, throwing you over his shoulder, his hand kneading your ass before smacking it, “Missed this sweet ass too.” he said, throwing you on top of the mattress. “I like this shirt on you, pup,” he smiled, his heart swelled as he felt strangely possessive of you, hovering above you, “But it had to come off.”

With a lack of finesse, his greedy hands ripped the poor clothing to shreds. He hadn’t gone so long without you. He needed to be inside you as soon as he could.

“Stevie!” You tried to chastise him.

He threw the shirt away, growling at the sight of your naked breasts, your hard pebbles, your hands coming up to cover them from his dark eyes. That won’t do, he pulled them away, pinning them beside your head. “What do you think you’re doing?” he frowned

You shuddered. Really, a beard shouldn’t make that much of a significant difference but it made him all the more intimidating. “Sorry, daddy.” You pouted. If nothing else, the D-word always worked.

He shook his head, capturing a nipple in his mouth, grazing it with his teeth. He made sure to run his beard over your breast. Letting go of your twisting hand as it clenched on the back of his head. Your back arching, pushing more your body to him.

With a loud ‘pop’ he let go of your hard nub, shoving two fingers in your mouth and ordering you to suck and like he obedient doll you were - you followed.

He pulled his fingers out, snaking his hand between your legs, dipping them in your heat. Then he noticed it and frowned.

Looking to his side, a sack of flour? No, looked fluffy enough to be cotton. “What is this?” he wanted to know.

You were too far gone to even register his words but you vaguely heard him. You bit your lip, following his eyes. “Oh, that’s Mister Steebie.”

“What?”

“That’s you. I missed you and I needed a cuddle buddy. So I stuffed some cotton in a sack, dressed him in your flannel and drew your face on him.”

His 'face' was just two dots with a blue sharpie, golden hair on his head and a pink mouth. “It’s cute.” he chuckled, grabbing ‘Steebie' and putting him on the floor, “But you don’t need him. You have the real thing now,” he reminded you, trailing kisses down your body, pushing your thighs apart to make room for him and settling between them.

“I suppose I should upgrade him now. Draw the beard on. I wonder if I have a brown sharpie,” you mused, yelping when you felt his teeth grazing over your clit. “God!” you heaved, propping yourself up on your elbows you looked down at him. A few strands of his hair had fallen on his forehead, he looked ethereal. “You’re so pretty, Stevie.” Your hand caressing his face.

He leaned into it, having been touch starved for over a month. “You’re the pretty one, pup. Now, will you be good for me? Let me treat my birthday girl right?”

You nodded. Laying back down, running your fingers through his longer locks.

“Did you touch yourself while I was gone?” he asked

“No, I followed your rules.”

“Good, I didn’t either.” Not that he had the time or space to anyway. But he wanted to save himself for you.

“Thor told me, women like a nice thick beard,” rubbing his face on your inner thighs, “he’s a bit of an oversharer. But I knew you’d like it too. Guess I was right.” He was smug about it too. He knew you inside and out. More than anybody else, maybe more than you know yourself.

He pushed your thighs apart as you squirmed above him, trying to clamp them on his head. “Now, sweetheart. I thought you promised to be good. Do I need to tie you up?”

You furiously shook your head. “No, please! I’ll be good.” Normally, you’d love to be tied up. But you needed to touch him, his face and his hair.

“I know it’s hard, pup, just try a little harder,” He tongue nudging at your entrance. His fingers spreading your lips apart, “such a pretty pussy,” he praised.

Wrapping his mouth around your clit and pushing his fingers in your pussy. He made sure to gather as much of your slick over his beard as he could, to make a mess of it.

You threw your head back, trying your best to stay still, it was too overwhelming, too good, “Stevie! Stop, stop please,” you begged, pulling on his hair.

He immediately pulled away, hovering back over you, inspecting you for any distress.

“I want to come with you inside me. Please.” you said, fluttering your lashes.

He sighed, “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Come on! It’s my birthday. You have to do as I say,” you giggled.

“As you wish,” he shook his head. He would’ve given in even if it wasn’t your birthday.

His fingers scrambling to get his dick out of his suit. Kissing your neck, sucking on your special spot, he pushed inside you. Digging his fingers in your hips, he bit your neck, “So fucking tight, doll.” He groaned, he was at the end of his rope, he couldn’t take it anymore, snapping his hips with a swift thrust he buried himself inside you.

“Stevie,” you mewled, feeling his tip pressing against your special spot. “Right there!”

Pulling his cock out and then pushing back, “Here?” he wiggled his hips, pressing his lips to your jaw.

“Yeah,” you gave a shaky reply. Already on the edge as he kept ramming in on your g-spot. “Steve, kiss me please?” You needed to feel his lips on yours, to feel his beards on your face.

Circling a hand under your waist to pull you up and closer to him, his hips setting a punishing pace, he crashed his lips on yours. Clashing your teeth together. He moaned as you pulled his bottom lip with your teeth, before kissing him again.

Letting go of his lips, just for a second to pepper kisses all over his beard and then kissing him deeply.

You clenched around his length, pulling his hair, biting the hilt to his jaw to stifle your scream. Waves of pleasure crashing over you one after another.

He came right after you, with a few more thrusts, filling you to the brim. He collapsed on top of you, careful not to crush you.

He laid beside you, on his side your bodies still connected. He couldn’t have any of his spend escaping your tight cunt.

He kissed the crown of your head. “You liked your first gift?” he asked as you hummed. “Don’t worry, I got plenty more for you.” he smirked already feeling himself get hard again in your pussy.

When you were quiet for a while, so unusual for you, your fingers playing with his beard, “What’s wrong, pup?” He tilted your face up so he could see it.

“Nothing,” you shook your head. Suddenly feeling guilty for ruining your precious pictures. “They need you more than I ever will - your team and this world.”

“That’s... true. You don’t need me. You’re a strong woman, if anything I need you. But that’s a good thing, sweetheart. You want me. And that's enough for me.”

“Really?” Your lips curling up in a big grin as you nuzzled his beard, feeling awfully proud of yourself.

Steve’s heart was big enough to share him with the entire world. That he could still love you more than you could even begin to comprehend. And always make his way back to you. You wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tags will be in the reblog! Click the link in the bio to be join the taglist or shoot me an ask/dm.

Comments and reblogs are really appreciated! ❤❤

[pradaksj]

ghostin || part one. (m.)

all rights reserved © pradaksj

↳do not repost, translate, or claim as your own.

❧ summary ⟶  ❝Though I wish he were here instead. Don't want that living in your head, he just comes to visit me when I'm dreaming every now and then. ❞

❧ pairing⟶ seokjin/reader

❧ genre⟶  angst, angst, and angst … did i say angst? + a bit of fluff? friends to lovers. 

❧ word count ⟶ 20,000+ 

❧ warnings ⟶ major character death! sad ending. descriptions of grieving process. 

❧ a/n ⟶ this is based on both ghostin by ariana grande and the one that got away by katy perry and pluto projector by rex orange county which has a godlike violin instrumental that is a perfect fit for this story. i def recommend listening to the slowed + reverb versions. + i tried to make transitions as clear as possible so please let me know how i did on those :(  and lastly ermmm dont stress too much on specific time stamps and ages bc ermmm I just did quick maths for a lot of it LMAO

❧ part of the  ⟶ thank u, next series

part 1 || part 2 (final) 

2050.

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear grandma, happy birthday to you!” the sound of multiple claps echo across the room, symbolizing the start of a new year for you. 

Today was your 75th birthday celebration and around you were your two grandkids along with your only daughter. It seemed as the years went by, the need for such grand celebrations weren’t as important as they used to be. A simple cutting of the cake surrounded by the people you love being enough to suffice.

“Grandma! You have to blow the candles out!” your youngest grandson eagerly reminds you, ready to blow them out himself if you didn’t take action soon, “and don’t forget to make a wish and don’t tell us or else it won’t come true!”

“Mm,” you smile warmly, gently closing your eyes and puffing a gentle huff of air, your mind blank of any wishes, for you had stopped believing in the magic of wishes a long long time ago.

“Alright, now to cut it … Jia go grab a cutting knife from the block set,” you hear your daughter command your oldest grandchild, who at this moment was clearly too consumed with whatever she had going on in her phone to even bother listening, “Jia!” she finally snaps her head up at the sound of her mother’s voice raising an octave, “How many times do I have to tell you to stop using that phone so much, not only is it rude but we’re celebrating your grandma’s birthday. The least you can do is have the courtesy to turn off your phone.”

She rolls her eyes in response, “Mom, I’m sure grandma doesn’t mind … right grandma?” she flashes you the toothy grin that you were used to seeing whenever she wanted something, knowing she’s always had a special place in your heart as the first grandchild.  

All you can do is chuckle softly, feeling too old to entertain and be dragged into the bickering arguments between your daughter and granddaughter. Carefully you get up yourself and grab a cutting knife despite your daughter’s pleas to sit.

“Look at what you’ve made your grandma do Ji—” but before your daughter could continue with her scolding, you raise a hand as a gesture of interrupting.

“I’m old, but I’m not that old Yeojin, getting up to grab a knife isn’t the end of the world for me,” you sigh, “Now let’s stop with all of the bickering and eat some cake.”

It was odd really, growing up you could never exactly picture yourself getting to this age (not that you weren’t ever hoping to), but like any other person you just always pictured yourself being young forever. 

It wasn’t until your first gray hair appeared several years ago that it suddenly struck you that you really were actually aging. From there the wrinkles upon your skin grew to be more prevalent and things you had no problem doing when you were in your teenage years began to consume much more energy from you. 

And now that you observed yourself in the mirror, here on your 75th birthday, did you realize that life had really gone by in the blink of an eye. 

Of course 75 wasn’t too old of an age, but now retired and living under the light supervision of your nearly 50 year old daughter, you had long ago realized that the days of wild adventures and endless partying were long over. In a way it was time to start asking yourself if you had lived a life you could be proud of and if you fulfilled the promise you made over 50 years ago. 

Honestly, you were unsure, but before you could dwell on your thoughts for any longer, the sound of an argument going on downstairs catches your attention.

“Hand me the phone Jia!” you hear your daughter’s voice yell across the room as you made your way into the living room.

“I said no! I’m not twelve anymore, you can’t just make me hand you my things whenever you want,” Jia scoffs in return, adamant on her rebellious stance.

“Considering that I’m the one whose paying that phone bill every month, I wouldn’t exactly call it yours little lady,” Yeojin sternly furrows her brows while her hand continued to remain held out, her patience running on a thin line, “Jia if you don’t give me that phone then—”

“What?” she interrupts, challenging whatever her mother was going to say. With your newly profound headache growing by the second, you grab the keys to your small old Toyota, deciding that you weren’t going to be helping handle this on your birthday. 

Their voices, which became nothing more than background noise while you grabbed your winter jacket, were brought back to your attention once you were making your way out the door.

“Mom where are you going?” Yeojin asks before you could run off, “It’s raining and you shouldn’t be driving at this hour of night.”

“And why is that?”

“Because Grandma you’re—” Jia suddenly chimes in, “well you’re um—” old, is what you know your granddaughter wants to say, but out of respect chooses not to.  

You sigh, “I’m just going to the diner to grab myself a late night snack while you two continue with your useless arguing. Hopefully when I come back, you two will have realized how pointless these arguments are.”

“Mom—” Yeojin begins, but almost as if a lightbulb went off in her head, she suddenly grabs Jia’s phone while she was distracted in watching you leave, “Go with your grandma,” she commands, and Jia’s eyes immediately go wide.

“Hey you can’t just—” Jia’s about to complain until she sees the firm look on her mother’s face, “But—” she glances in your direction, knowing that just like her mom, she wouldn’t feel too good having you out driving this late at night, especially on a rainy day.

“You cried about getting your permit for months, now is the time to put it to use,” Yeojin sends her knowing look, recalling the number of months that Jia would complain about all of her classmates getting either their permits or license’s while she was still stuck taking the bus. 

“Ugh,” she groans, “Fine, grandma wait for me in the car,” she ultimately says. After putting on her shoes, Jia begins to make her way out to the car, but not before her mother stops her midway to tell her to “Drive safe.”

“Mom, I know,” she scoffs, “but don’t expect me to spend hours there or something. We’re strictly going for whatever food she wants and back. No way in hell are we dining in.”  

To that, Yeojin laughs. There was no way her mother wouldn’t want to dine in, but deciding she’d let Jia figure that out on her own, instead she says, “Well as long as you listen to whatever your grandma has to say to you then I don’t mind what time you come back.”

“That’s if she doesn’t put me to sleep first,” Jia mumbles to herself, but still loud enough for her mother to hear. 

One could say, she wasn’t exactly looking forward to spending one on one time with her grandma, not without her phone at least. Of course that didn’t mean she didn’t love her grandma to death because truly she did, but often she found herself halfway asleep whenever she had long conversations with her. The same old endearing “you and your mother need to learn to communicate” or the “back in my day” conversations were quite repetitive.

“Mm, you need to start putting that attitude of yours under control little lady,” Yeojin shakes her head in disapproval, “I understand that your grandma can be a bit…”

“Boring,” Jia completes the sentence for her.

“Tedious,” Yeojin corrects, “at times, but occasionally she has an interesting story to tell here and there,” she chuckles, “so don’t count her out just yet. You may be surprised with whatever story she has prepared to tell.”

And with that all Jia could do was sigh, preparing for the long night ahead.

“Grandma, we’ve been here for like 2 hours now,” Jia complains, staring at you as you ate your BLT sandwich, the sound of both loud and pleased munches coming out of your mouth, “You’re really telling me you’re not full yet?”

With a mouthful of food in your mouth, you shake your head no. It isn’t until you gulp down your food that you’re able to verbally give a response, “You know I’m a slow eater, plus it’s my birthday. You don’t hear me complain on your birthday, do you?”

To that, Jia remained silent. She guessed you had a point, not like there was much left for an elderly lady like you to do. The least she could do was suck up her complaints, and deal with it. It just sucked that whenever she looked up at the wall clock it seemed like time was moving as slow as a snail. 

God, how she should’ve somehow managed to take back her phone. It also didn’t help that those “stories” her mom had mentioned weren’t planning on making an appearance tonight because all you did was silently eat your food and stare out the window. 

Honestly, Jia hadn’t expected much but it seemed as if today you were even quieter than usual, not even bothering to make the small conversation you usually did, like asking her how school was going or if she had a boyfriend yet (not that she ever responded truthfully). So in short, you were doing absolutely nothing to appease Jia’s boredom.

All Jia could do was tap her nails against the old diner’s table and observe the other late night foodies around you two. 

The first person she noticed was a middle aged man who was eating a burger along with a strawberry shake. Based on his tiresome appearance and the hat he wore, she could only assume that he was most likely a trucker who needed to make a pit stop.

The second person she noticed was not a single person, but a group of three. A father, a mother, and their little daughter. The sight of them tugging slightly at her heart strings, reminding her of a time in her childhood before her parents’ divorce. If only she had appreciated those moments a little more while they were happening.

Deciding that she wasn’t in the mood for nostalgic sulking, she instead focused her attention on the last set of people in the diner. A couple, who was only a couple of feet away from you two, seated in one of the booths rather than at a table like Jia and you. 

The young man, who Jia assumed was in his mid 20′s, was seated with a woman who was just as good looking as him. The two of them sat facing across from one another rather than besides each other, the serious look on their faces clearly signaling that whatever they were talking about was of importance.

It wasn’t until she took a clearer look at the woman that she realized she was crying, the sounds of her whimpers becoming clearer once she had taken note of the woman’s disheveled appearance. It looked like she had been crying for hours, her hand holding onto the man’s at the center of the table as if begging him to stay…

“Yejin we just can’t be together anymore,” Jia overhears the man say, and it’s only then that she realizes that the woman is begging him to stay.  

“Jimin, all I’m asking is why?” she hears the woman plead, her voice sounding weak and defeated, “I just— I just don’t understand—” she manages to stutter the sentence out, “Does it have to do with what you were telling me the other night? About feeling incompenent with your career?”

He vigorously shakes his head no, prepared to deny the accusation, “No—”

But she’s quick to cut him off, “Because if it is,” she squeezes his hand tighter, “I already told you I don’t care. I don’t care if you’re the poorest or richest man on the planet, okay? As long as I’m with you, I just don’t care,” she repeats, “You’re my person Jimin,” the woman, who Jia now identified as Yejin, with whatever energy she had left, forced a small smile to grace upon her lips. 

A small smile that spoke nothing but genuine love for the man across from her, but with eyes that were desperately hoping for a small sign that the man in front of her would break, “You’re all I have.”

The man, Jimin, instead of reciprocating the warm gesture, pulls his hands away, forcing himself to be the ultimate bad guy in this story. 

This was for the best he reasoned with himself, not for him, but for her. 

The woman in front of him who he loved so much that he couldn’t bear the thought of denying her a future where she’d have to worry everyday about what their future held, even if it meant not being with him, 

“It’s for that reason that we can’t….” he clears his throat, “After tonight we’ll be nothing more than strangers.” he says in a voice that hid any feeling of despair he felt, saving the emotion for later when he was by himself.

“Please,” her voice breaks, “Jimin please,” a single teardrop falls from her eye, “Our future, it'll be worth it, I promise. Every stupid stubborn inch of it because as long as I’m by your side we’ll get through anything. And when we’re old and gray we’ll laugh about this stupid conversation—”

“Yejin—”

“No,” Yejin shakes her head vigorously, desperately fighting tooth and nail for her boyfriend of 7 years and her childhood friend of even more, the person she thought she’d been through it all with, “I refuse to—”

“Yejin!” he firmly interrupts her before she could continue, unsure of just how much more he could hear, “Look at me.” Fuck Yejin. Don’t do this to me. Just accept it., was all he could think at the moment, “I’m—” for a second he struggles to say the words, struggles to officially shatter the heart that had trusted him enough to show itself completely bare, “I’m doing this for me. I’m choosing me. And I don’t know what else I can say or do for you to realize that,” how disgusting it felt to spew the lies out of his mouth.

And it was once he said those words, that Yejin no longer fought against what was happening. It was then that Jimin knew, she had finally accepted it. 

The two sat there in silence for what felt like an eternity, until Yejin grabbed her keys from the table, mustering the courage to be the first one to leave, but not before planting a soft kiss on top of Jimin’s head, a final gesture of good bye.

Jia, who’d witness the whole heartbreaking scene play out in front of her, struggled to tear her eyes away. But it was once she did, that she had noticed she wasn’t the only one who had paid attention to the break up.

Watching the couple, you looked as if you’d seen a ghost, truly at a loss for words. Never did you imagine you’d witness history repeat itself.

A voice breaks you away from your thoughts, “Grandma, are you okay?” Jia warily asks, concerned with why you looked so shocked.

“Oh,” you blink rapidly as if being brought back to reality, “Yeah, it’s just—” you glance at the booth once again, watching the man sulk in his seat. 

His head was leaned against the glass window, dazedly looking at the view outside. By now his eyes were puffy, the emotions he had kept bottled in, now manifesting itself in the salty tears that were now silently falling down his face. 

And before you could think twice, you grabbed the extra sandwich you had ordered and began to walk towards his booth, Jia following behind with a shocked expression.

“Grandma, what are you doing?!” she asks in a panicky tone, but before she could stop you from doing anything, you were already standing beside the booth the man was in. 

The dirty-blonde haired man turns his attention towards the two of you, a worn out expression on his face.

“You seem like you could use this,” you offer him the sandwich with a warm smile on your face, “a young man like you shouldn’t be in such distress, or else you’ll end up with wrinkles like mine,” you try to joke around, an attempt to brighten the mood. 

He lets out a forced chuckle, showing you that despite his down mood, he was still a very polite young man through and through.

“You don’t mind if we…” you stare at the seat across from him, signaling that you were hoping to sit. 

He looks as if he wants to say no, shyly avoiding eye contact for a moment, unsure of how to reject a kind old woman.

“Oh it’s just that um—” but before he could spew out an excuse, you were already making yourself comfortable in the booth, your granddaughter hesitantly sitting in the spot next to him, still giving you the “What are you doing” eyes. 

He feigns an awkward smile, scolding himself for being so timid. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the kind gesture, for any other day he would’ve been more than happy to receive a free BLT sandwich and make conversation with an elder, but tonight … well tonight he just wanted to sulk in his own misery.

“So what is a young man like you doing out here so late at night?” you ask, the closed eye smile on your face causing your wrinkles to protrude. 

He remains silent, unsure of what to respond with, “Was that your girlfriend just now who left?” you boldly ask, the phrase “having a filter” clearly not in your dictionary.

“Grandma!” Jia frantically says, “Sir I’m sorry, we’ll leave now,” she forces an awkward laugh, now getting up from the booth, “she can be a bit pushy—”

“She’s my ex now,” he surprisingly answers, catching not only Jia but himself off guard. 

You on the other hand remain with a warm sympathetic smile on your face. 

Honestly, he wasn’t sure what came over him to be so straightforward. He’d been holding so much in for so long, he figured that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to talk to a random old lady and her granddaughter for a night. Not like he’d ever see them again, right?

Letting out a bitter scoff directed at himself, he continues, “I broke up with her just now Mrs—”

“Ms. y/l/n,” you correct him, “and this is my granddaughter Jia,” you signal to Jia to sit back down, and she watches the two of you with wary eyes, confused by the sudden conversational exchange between the two of you. 

Hmm, well she did want to know why he broke up with his girlfriend, so maybe it wouldn’t hurt to just sit and listen for a bit. Shaking his hand, she seats herself once more.

“You don’t seem too happy about your break up, for someone who did the breaking that is…” you lightheartedly comment, secretly analyzing his tense posture. Though relaxing just a bit, it was clear that he still didn’t feel completely comfortable sharing the details of his private life. It wasn’t surprising really, you were nothing more than a stranger. It wasn’t like you expected him to be so open, not right away at least, “you don’t mind me asking why?”

“Because—” he pauses for a moment, trying to find the right words, “we—” he sighs, holding back, “we just weren’t meant to be,” he ultimately says with a small sad smile on his face. 

You stare at him for what feels like an eternity, a frown now on your face.

“And what makes you say that?” you ask. 

He gulps, the intense stare from both you and Jia now making him nervous, “Because she’s destined for greatness,” he longingly states, “and I was nothing more than an obstacle along the way even if she didn’t realize it,” he looks down at the table, “Because all I want in this world is for her to live a long happy life, a life where she can do anything she pleases whenever she wants, without a worry in the world,” he concludes, now sporting a dull expression.

“You—” you clench your teeth, almost looking at him in disgust, “You stupid boy,” you harshly mumble, but still loud enough for both him and Jia to hear.

“Grandma!” Jia’s eyes widen, taken aback by your sudden rude remark, but all you can do is continue to stare at the man in front of you, a pained expression on your face. Almost as if you wanted to cry.

Jimin on the other hand didn’t know what to make of your words. Was he offended? No, not really. Surprised? Couldn’t say he was. Was it deserved? He’d like to think so. “Look—” he’s about to say something until you interrupt him.

“What about you?” you demand pointedly, “Don’t you care about what you want? What about your happiness?” you feel your upper lip tremble along with a rush of emotions that you were sure you hadn’t felt in years. 

Anger. Sadness. Fear. 

Everything you had kept bottled in for so long was beginning to make its appearance all because you witnessed this young man break up with his girlfriend.

“Grandma I think we should g—”

“No,” you firmly state, your voice slightly trembling, “I’m not going to let it happen again, I can’t,” a single tear falls from your face as you come into eye contact with the young man. God, he looked so much like him. 

Wiping the tear away, you quickly compose yourself, “I’m going to tell the two of you a story,” you point towards the boy, “and you better listen good and well,” you turn to your granddaughter, “you too little lady because it’s a lesson that can be learned by anyone.”

Her face twists to one of skepticism, but she silently nods her head, deciding she wasn’t going to push your buttons for she had never seen you act like this before. Jimin does the same as well, now fearing getting on your wrong side.

“Good,” you let out a deep breath of air, unsure of where to start. 

This was the first time in your life that you were telling someone absolutely everything, and never had you imagined it’d be in this exact diner with some random stranger (who you’d just happen to be a first hand witness of his breakup) and your granddaughter. 

But a part of you couldn’t help but think that maybe …just maybe it was meant to be this way. That coming to this diner and witnessing what you’d just seen was the universe’s way of telling you that just because your fate was already sealed, didn’t mean you couldn’t change someone else’s. And so you continue, “So I guess…” you pause, “I guess we should start at the beginning.”

“It was the year 1992, Nirvana had just released their all too famous album ‘Nevermind’ months prior to the new year, marking the first shift that we’d see in pop culture during the 90’s. People my age were beginning to slowly throw away their mousse bottles and bright colored outfits and opting in for a more toned down look of mom-jeans and oversized band shirts.

I had just turned 17 at the time and moved here to the city of Gwacheon because of my dad’s job. You wouldn’t believe me but back then this city we know now was a snooze fest. It was nothing but government official buildings and a vacant town center that played outdated music. 

I remember being so bitter about moving because like any other teen who moved from one city to another, I had just barely begun to make friends in the city before, only to find out I’d have to leave months later.

I remember having a childish frown on my face the whole ride to the new neighborhood, convinced that by having a fit I’d somehow have my way and go back to the city before, but all in all that’s where the story begins…”

“Mom it’s just not fair!” you complain, crossing your arms while leaning your head against the window, watching as the new town you’d have to learn to call home was nearing with every stop, “I was just beginning to get used to that school, I was even supposed to go on a date!”

Sighing, your mom turns from the passenger's seat to face you, a mix of sympathy and annoyance on her face. It’d been over 4 hours already of hearing you complain in the car, and though your dad had learned to mute you out from the driver’s seat, your mom had to endure each and every complaint. 

“Y/N you know your dad’s job requires him to move around from time to time, it’s something out of our control, unless you’re magically going to find him a job out there that pays him as much as his current one then be my guest,” she stares at you knowingly, while you stay silent. 

She furrows her brows once she notices something about your appearance, “And what did I tell you about lining your lips like that? And that thing around your neck you’re wearing, you’re lucky it hasn’t suffocat—”

“It’s called a choker and everyone my age wears them mom,” you roll your eyes, wanting this conversation to be over now, despite it being you who started it, “times are changing meaning fashion is too.”

“I thought you kids liked the whole poofy hair and leg warmers kind of stuff. And that one man who's always on MTV,” she twiddles her fingers, trying to remember his name, “you know the one who danced as a zombie in that one video, how does it go again—” she begins to snap her fingers, humming the tune, “cause this is Thriller,” she sings.

“Michael Jackson mom, Michael Jackson,” you answer in annoyance, how the hell did she not know his name?

“Ahh that’s his name,” she laughs, “I’m sorry I’m not so invested in that kind of stuff like you young people are.”

You roll your eyes at this, “Mom I’m sure even grandma knows who Michael Jackson is, you’re just—” but before you could go on any further, the car suddenly comes to a halt.

“And here we are,” your dad finally speaks, an exhausted sigh coming out of his mouth. 

The moving truck, which was following right behind you guys had made its stop as well and while your parents immediately stepped out the car to begin attending to the family things, you just looked at your new home in a mix of dismay and surprise. It was definitely a nice home, it’s resemblance to the houses around you being a bit uncanny.

Suddenly, interrupting your deep thinking, your car door opens. 

Your mom, who for some reason had a complete 180 turn in attitude, now had an impatient look on her face along with an eyebrow raised. “You’re either going to help your dad take out our things or you’re coming with me to introduce ourselves to the neighbors.”

You stare at her for a moment, thinking to yourself which one you wanted to do. Though still slightly pissed off at your dad for his sudden bomb drop of news that you were all moving, you weren’t exactly in the mood to be social right now, let alone with your new neighbors as it would just ultimately mean having to accept the reality of your situation. “I think I’ll just—”

“Come with me? Great,” your mom answers for you, and you only groan in irritation. You couldn’t say you were shocked as this was only expected from her.

Getting out of the car, you begin to follow her to the next door neighbor’s house on the left side of your new home, your mom having come to the conclusion that the neighbors on the right side must’ve not been home due to the lack of cars in the driveway, “And remember y/n, be nice,” she reminds you, noticing the family SUV parked outside the house, she adds, “and who knows maybe there’s someone your age you can make friends with here.”

You stay silent, not sure if whether finding someone your age living inside the house would be a good or bad thing. 

At your last house, there was a girl your exact same age who despite being a very kind person, was just a little too talkative. You’d often randomly find her in your room after learning that your mom let her in because she thought that “that’s what teen girls like to do right? Gossip and cut up some magazines in their room.” Not only would you find yourself getting migraines all the time but you were just too nice to kick her out.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The muffled sound of what you could only assume were kids running around and things being thrown made you mumble “Oh great,” to yourself. If your mom got friendly with the neighbors like she somehow always did, you’d find yourself babysitting these kids sometime in the future for free. 

Minutes pass and nothing. 

Personally you took that as a sign of ‘do not disturb’ but your mom, being the relentless person she was, knocked one more time.

“Mom clearly they don’t want to—” and of course just as you were about to convince her to leave, the sound of the kids screaming and laughing comes to a sudden halt and the door swings wide open. 

There in front of you stood a middle-aged woman, probably near your mom’s age, who had her hair completely disheveled and one of her kids (a little girl) in her arms while the other (a little boy) gripping onto her right leg like a sloth holding onto a branch.

Despite her stressed appearance, there was still a sense of motherly tidiness to her. “Hello,” your mom greets with a grin on her face, “we just came to introduce ourselves as your new next door neighbors,” she sticks her hand out for the woman to shake, “I’m y/m/n.”

The woman, who looks a bit confused at first, suddenly snaps back to reality with a “Ohh” expression on her face remembering that the house aside from her having its “For Sale” sign removed not too long ago. 

She’s quick to shake your mom’s hand in return, “Kim Yerin,” she smiles, “and these are my twins, Minjun and Yeonha. Say hi you two,” she nudges the little girl in her arms who currently had her head rested on her mother’s shoulder while doing the same to the boy wrapped around her leg.

The two, clearly shy in front of strangers, only stare at the two of you with curious eyes, “And this must be your daughter I assume,” the woman faces her attention towards you, who had just been quietly watching the exchange, and waits for you to introduce yourself.

Your face slightly reddens when you feel your mother nudge you, “Y/N,” your introduction comes out as more of a whisper.

“And how old are you?” she curiously asks.

“Just turned seventeen,” you answer, an awkward smile forming on your face.

And as if a lightbulb suddenly went off on her head, a huge grin appears on her face, “You’re my older sons age,” she chuckles, “I don’t know if he’s come back home yet,” she mumbles looking behind her and your nerves begin to rise as you know what she’s about to do, “Seokjin!” she yells loud enough that her voice echoes across the walls of her home, “Give me a moment,” she flashes you two a smile before slightly closing the door, placing her foot in the ridge in order to create a crack so that it wouldn’t be completely closed. “Seokjin!” she calls for her son again, and soon you hear the sound of feet scuffling down the stairs.

“You and that camcorder, we have guests,” you hear her say.

“Say hiiii,” a voice behind the door says and you soon hear the kids giggle. 

Yerin opens the door all the way once again, and to your surprise you come to face a tall boy with a camcorder blocking most of his face. 

With the lens facing your direction, a whispered “Woah,” then comes out of his mouth. The sound of the lens zooming in causing your eyebrows to furrow in confusion.

“Seokjin,” his mother says more harshly, making him set the camera down and finally reveal his face. And once he did… wow were you surprised. 

Though he was sporting what you considered an outdated mullet, the boy was relatively handsome. Currently dressed in a simple black fitted long sleeve shirt and cuffed blue jeans, the young man stuck his hand out for you to shake, a small smile gracing his lips.

“Seokjin but you can call me Jin for short,” he politely introduces himself.

Awkwardly avoiding eye contact, you return the shake, “Y/N.”

“Seokjin, I was just telling y/n here that you two are the same age, maybe you could show her around school this Monday,” she suggests, and your mom is quick to chime in.

“Maybe he can show her around town right now, I’m sure she’d love that, wouldn’t you y/n? That’s if he can of course,” she adds and your eyes widen at the suggestion. Soon it becomes apparent that both you and Jin are feeling flustered at both your mothers’ intrusiveness.

“I d-d—” you stutter.

“Mom…” he begins, his ears reddening. Unbeknownst to you, you’d soon find out that it was something that only occurred whenever he was nervous.

“I’ll even lend you the car this one time,” his mother says, grabbing the keys from the key rack next to door and handing them to him.

A silence momentarily fills the air, awkwardness seeping deep until Mrs. Kim breaks it, “Well go you two! me and Mrs….”

“Y/L/N,” your mom completes for her.

“Will be here drinking tea inside and waiting for you to return,” she gently pushes Jin, who had just put on his Converse, out the door while your mom begins to make her way inside, “And remember to drive safe Seokjin,” she says for a final time before practically slamming the door shut.

The two of you stand there for what feels like forever, staring at anything but each other’s eyes. 

“Sorry about that, my mom can be a bit… pushy,” he says, and you want to tell him that it's fine, that your mom is exactly the same, but the words can’t seem to come out. “So…” he mumbles, barely audible to the ear, “Where should we go first?” he asks fiddling with keys in his hands, which only causes you to look at him in confusion. Did he forget you weren’t from here?

“Um…” you say, and slowly he fits the puzzle pieces and realizes what exactly he had asked.

“Oh right,” he awkwardly laughs, scratching the back of his neck as a nervous gesture. 

You notice that he’s still holding his camcorder with the other hand, its small red button still glowing, and so out of nowhere you voice the first question that came to your mind.

“Is that thing still recording?” you ask which averts his attention to the grey bulky object in his hand.

“Oh I must’ve forgot to turn it off,” he says, genuinely surprised at his lousy mistake, “My bad,” he adds and you shake your head in a way to say that it was fine. “So … are you hungry?” he kindly asks, and you think to yourself for a moment … the two of you had to go somewhere as it wasn’t like you could just walk right back in and lie.

Gently, you shrug your shoulders, “Yeah I can go for something to eat,” you say, which by now was the longest sentence he’d heard you speak since your introduction to him.

“Great,” he smiles, making his way towards the Hyundai SUV with you following close behind. To your surprise he walks over to your side and opens the door “like a gentleman” before entering the car himself. You mumble a quiet “thank you,” in return.

It’s once he turns on the ignition that you begin to dread the awkwardness inside the car. It wasn’t that you weren’t a social person because truly you were, or at least you always tried to be. You were just never good at initiating conversations first because honestly, who was? The image of your mom immediately came to your mind, but she was different. That lady could spark a conversation with a plant if she really wanted to.

“And here’s the number one song in the country for a third week straight, Emotions by Mariah Carey!” the radio host announces and soon the famous tune begins to play causing Jin to tap his finger against the driving wheel, clearly a fan of the song. 

You on the other hand kept your attention on the view outside, noting how boring this town was. From the dull buildings to the empty streets, everything was just so boring. But you couldn’t complain too much, for in a couple of months from now you’d be well off on your way to a college in the city of Seoul, which even though it wasn’t too far from here, it was still much more populated.

“So y/n,” Jin lowers the music down, “where did you move from?” he asks, an attempt at making conversation while driving.

“Buk district in Busan,” you answer in a short and precise manner.

“Oh…” he simply says, “Did you like it over there?”

The delivery of the question causes you to quietly chuckle to yourself, “Yeah I did,” you smile to yourself remembering the friends you had made over there, but almost immediately you remember that any chance of ever seeing them again was long gone, and a frown soon replaces the small smile.

Jin notices the change in facial expression from you, “Well I’m sure you’ll like it around here,” he attempts to comfort you, “I know things may look a little different, hell maybe even a little boring,” he laughs, “but trust me you’ll learn to love this place,” he flashes you a reassuring smile.

To that you could only feign a look of happiness. Not wanting to be a complete asshole, you try and think of something you could ask him, something to spark a conversation like he was trying to. 

“It’s Jin right… “ you ask, and to that he nods, “um…” you hum, “how old are your siblings?” you stifly ask, adding an extra comment at the end, “I heard them being pretty um … hyper…  before my mom knocked.”

Immediately a smile appears on his face, “Ahh Minjun and Yeonha,” he chuckles, “they’re four but turning five in a couple of months. They’re a handful,” he jokes around, “but we wouldn’t have it any other way,” he says, referring to him and the rest of his family.

“And they’re your only siblings?” 

He nods, shrugging while answering, “Yeah, but I always wanted siblings growing up and so to not only get one but two at the same time was pretty cool,” he glances at you, “what about you?”

You nod your head no, “My mom told me that once she had me and dealt with all the sleepless nights due to me crying all the time, that she knew one was enough,” you manage to joke around, the atmosphere in the car now becoming less tense.

“I think my parents thought the same way, but surprises happen,” he laughs, “I mean it’s probably a good thing that I was pretty old when they were born. It meant an extra set of hands to help around the house especially considering my dad’s always working.” 

And at the mention of his father you couldn’t help but grow a little curious. He was the only person you hadn’t been introduced to and despite Jin’s mother being an overall gorgeous woman, you assumed that Jin must’ve gotten his most prominent features from his dad as his mother didn’t really resemble him.

“What does he work in?” you continue the flow of the conversation.

“He’s a finance manager for one of the many corporation companies you’ll find around here,” and to that he frowns, “I’m assuming your dad must work in a similar field.”

You look at the window again, “Yeah,” you sigh, “so I guess a lot of people around here work in the business field.” 

“I think that’s what causes this place to be a little boring sometimes,” he comments, focusing on the road in front of him, “The lack of creativity,” and by looking at the buildings and overall aura of the town, you understand what he means, “People here already have expectations set on them, and with the pressure of being successful, no one ever really takes the risk of pursuing what they’re really passionate about.”

“Hm,” you hum, unsure of what to add to that, for Jin had hit the nail on its head.

“Butttttt,” he sings, “when you meet people like me you’ll realize not everyone around here is the same,” and with that he piques your curiosity, the car suddenly coming to a halt.

Looking out the window, you notice you’re in front of an old school diner, it’s neon lights currently turned off because of the daylight. Not that it really mattered, as the bright cherry red and blue color painted walls were definitely enough to grab anyone’s attention. 

Through the see through glass you notice a group of guys sitting at one of the booths, staring at the two of you as you both exited the car. A mixture of both excitement (which you assumed was directed at Jin) and confusion (which was probably directed on you) on their faces.

“Come on, follow me,” Jin says, leading you inside to the group of boys who looked around your age. 

They’re quick to greet Jin, practically shouting his name across the diner. It must’ve been a regular occurrence because none of the waiters even turned to focus their attention on them, “Somehow I knew you guys would be here,” Jin teases.

One of the boys rolls their eyes, “So are you going to introduce us to your new lady friend?” he smiles, and immediately the spotlight is set on you, both you and Jin standing in front of their booth.

“Y/N this is Yoongi,” Jin points at the boy who asked the daring question, “This is Taehyung,” he points at the boy next to him, “and finally this is Namjoon,” he points at the final boy across from them, “You guys this is y/n. She just moved here from Busan.”

“Ahh Busan!” the black haired boy, Taehyung, says excitedly, “I once had a pen pal from there,” he trivially says causing the other boys to laugh.

“Ahh Taehyung and his pen pals,” Yoongi shakes his head, tapping the boys shoulders, “And how did that one out of the many turn out?” he asks in a joking manner, only causing Taehyung to pout, knowing Yoongi was teasing him.

“Hmm,” he groaned, “It’s only been a couple of months without a reply, that doesn’t mean we’re not friends anymore!”

“Yeah Yeah Yeah,” Yoongi rolls his eyes again, scooting to the side to make space for you, “Well don’t just stand there, sit,” he lightly teases, and you glance at Jin as if to confirm if it was okay to do so. He smiles at your shyness, confident that you’d get along with his friends just fine, it’d just take some warming up on your part until then. 

Setting his camcorder down on the table, he takes a seat next to Namjoon while you take yours next to Yoongi and Taehyung.

“So y/n,” Namjoon speaks up, “how are you liking it here so far?” But before you can think of a response, Jin answers for you.

“She literally just moved here,” he glances at the clock on the wall, “like an hour ago,” he laughs, “I don’t even think she’s unpacked her stuff.”

“Well don’t expect too much,” Yoongi says, contradicting what Jin had told you earlier, “this place is a snooze fest!” he dramatically adds, only causing Jin to nudge him with his leg from under the table, “Hey it's true, if it weren’t for you guys I’d be dying of boredom all the time.”

“Which is exactly why we need to show y/n the best spots in town to visit and how to have some fun,” Jin declares and to that, the boys shrug, not minding the new addition to their group.

“Well wasn’t that easy,” you think to yourself, it seemed making friends wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be.

“As long as you’re not some kind of party pooper then—”

“Like there's parties in town to even poop at,” Taehyung interrupts causing Yoongi to look at him with a “Huh?” expression making everyone including yourself laugh out loud.

“You do realize it’s not literal—” but before he could continue, Yoongi raises his hand to cover his face, “You and that camera Jin,” and immediately you follow suit, having failed to notice that Jin had turned on his camcorder. Taehyung instead of covering his face, poses by flashing two peace signs, while Namjoon flashed his dimpled smile once the camera was pointed to him.

“Ahh why do you feel the need to record everything?” Yoongi asks, still covering his face.

“You’ll thank me later,” Jin says, “Come on y/n say hiiii,” he begins to near the camera to your face.

“Does he always do this?” you ask his friends around him, and to that they nod.

“He says it’s his practice for becoming a director in the future, but….” Namjoon playfully scoffs, “I don’t see the point in recording absolutely everything.”

“Because I want to make sure when I find the project I want to create, I’ll have all the film I need.” Slowly you take your hands off your face once you notice he wasn’t going to relent anytime soon, “Come on, you know you wanna smileeee,” he sings, and slowly but surely you smile indeed. An awkward one, but a smile nonetheless.

“Well cheers to a new friendship,” Taehyung flashes you his signature boxy smile, raising his milkshake drink in the air, Namjoon and Yoongi imitating the action. You and Seokjin on the other hand create an imaginary motion as if you had drink in your hands, grateful for the blossoming friendship in the making.

“After that first day in Gwacheon, Seokjin along with his friends showed me the best spots in town, whether it was somewhere to eat or somewhere to simply get a good view, they were showing me things that proved the boring town to be different than what it seemed. 

Seokjin would especially be eager to show me his favorite spots, always recording my reactions to first time meals or whenever he’d show me a new location. When I’d ask him why, he’d tell me it was because it was like watching a kid eat candy for the first time.

Soon I’d find myself hanging out with him the most, I’m not sure if it was because we were next door neighbors or maybe it was because he was my first friend here, but it wasn’t like I was complaining. It seemed as if with every time we hung out, I was learning something new about him, never a day too dull…”

“You’re not even blowing into it,” Jin complains, watching as you blew air into the Mario game cartridge, your face getting red at your serious effort, “Let me see,” he says, but to that you stubbornly refuse, continuing to blow heavy puffs of air into it.

For the past hour the two of you had been playing his new Mario game on the Nintendo SNES, but out of nowhere the game completely blacked out. 

Suspecting that there must have been built-up dust in the cartridge, you took it as your responsibility to blow air into it.

“Fine,” you hiss, passing him the game.

“Ah don’t be like that either,” he teases, squeezing your cheek with his hand.

“Hey!” you cry out and he raises his hands to his defense.

“Sorry I can’t help it,” he laughs, “they’re just so…” he pauses, “squeezable?”

You flip him off, only making him laugh even more, “Just fix the game already,” you mumble, not actually offended, but pretending to be which he of course was used to by now.

Knock. Knock.

“Seokjinnieeee!” the sound of his younger sister’s voice, Yeonha, fills the room. Immediately she goes to tackle him, and Jin (pretending that she was stronger than him) playfully throws himself on the floor only causing her to go into a fit of giggles. 

Then out of nowhere you feel tiny arms wrap themselves around your shoulders, “Y/Nieeee,” Minjun blitzes you from behind, a grin now appearing on your face. 

With his arms still wrapped around your shoulders, you get up from the floor and begin to run around the room, pretending to be an airplane soaring across the sky.

“Do that too! Do that too!” Yeonha commands Seokjin, forcibly wrapping her arms around his very broad shoulders. 

And soon the two of you find yourselves going at “war” with one other, purposely missing each other whenever it’d look like you two would crash as a scare effect for the kids.

By the time you two were all done, you were out of breath and completely exhausted. “Again, again, again!” you hear the two kids squeal, but you were just way too tired to go at it a second time.

Feigning a sad expression on your face, you say, “I’m sorry, I have to be back for dinner soon at my house, but next time I see you I promise you we’ll do that again for you guys.”

Both of the kids, with a saddened expression on their faces, simultaneously go “Aww.” but completely understand, knowing you were never one to falsify your promises.

“Wait you do?” Seokjin asks, completely believing your lie. Glaring at him, you wink at him in a knowing way, and though it takes him a while, he quietly says “Ohh.” once he understands. Scratching the back of his neck, he says, “How bout I walk you out haha,” he innocently smiles with his eyes closed.

“Byeeee Y/N,” the kids say, their attention already on something else.

Waving goodbye, you and Jin make your way downstairs, greeted by his mom, who had used to the time that you two spent playing with kids to make dinner, 

“Already leaving Y/N?” she asks when she spots your backpack in your hand, “I made japchae, I’m sure your mom wouldn’t mind you staying for dinner,” she kindly suggests, but you politely nod your head no.

“It’s fine Mrs. Kim,” you say, “I don’t want to lessen the servings any more than I should.”

“You sure I can always—” she’s about to say something until she meets Jin’s expression, which was one of panic. Subtly he was nodding his head in a way to say that she should drop it, not only his ears, but his face becoming red. Softly chuckling to herself, she drops the subject, “Ahh well have a good night y/n.”

“Goodnight Mrs. Kim,” you dismiss yourself, Jin following right behind you as you make your way out the door.

“Whew I sure am tired,” you say once you hear the door behind you close, now standing on his front porch, the sun beginning to set, “We didn’t even get to work on our calculus homework,” you mention, feigning a chuckle. 

Jin shrugs, “I doubt we were gonna work on it either way,” he laughs changing the topic, “So y/n um…” he pauses, feeling a lump in his throat form as he nervously rocked back and forth, “I’ve been wanting to ask you something I just don’t know how you’ll react…”

You look at him with a genuine clueless expression on your face. Moments of silence pass before you respond, “Well go on ahead,” you laugh, “you know you can tell me anything,” you smile at him.

And for a moment it feels as if the words can’t come out, the fear of being denied overwhelming the feeling of hope, “Um well…” he gulps, “you know it’s been a couple of months since you moved here and well…” he avoids eye contact with you, “I feel like I see you all the time…” he continues, and for a small second you become scared … Did you do something? Did he no longer ever wanna see you again? With that thought, you feel your stomach drop, “And well I wanted to tell you that I—”

“Oh y/n honey, you forgot your notebook!” Jin’s mom suddenly opens the door, interrupting the moment and catching the both of you by surprise. 

Jin immediately shoots his mom a “What are you doing?” look, but it seems like she didn’t catch onto it as she continued having a huge smile on her face. Oh what a kind … oblivious … woman she could be sometimes.

“O-oh,” you stutter, still in a state of surprise at her sudden intrusion, “Um thank you Mrs. Kim, um I should get going!” you awkwardly laugh, “Um I’ll see you at school tomorrow Jin!” you wave goodbye, practically running back to your house. The last thing you hear before closing your own door was the sound of Jin groaning, “Moooom!”

“Ah y/n you made it just in time for dinner,” your own mother greets you, “For a moment I thought you’d spend dinner with the Kims’ for another night,” she teases, causing a ferocious blush to appear on your cheeks.

“What makes you say that?” you mumble while avoiding eye contact, only causing her to send you a knowing look.

Deciding she’d play along with your oblivious act this once, she shrugs, “Hmm I don’t know, maybe because there’s a special someone you like in that house of theirs.” 

Your blush deepens.

“Not true,” is all you can muster, “We’re just close friends, that’s all,” you state, but deep down you knew you could only wish for more.

“Mmm well y/n, time is ticking,” she playfully sings, “if you don’t confess soon, who knows when you’ll get the chance once you’re off at college. Just ask your dad, he had to wait 4 years until I came back to our hometown to confess. Isn’t that right y/f/n?” she turns to your dad, who was currently watching Cheers on the television.

Getting up from the couch, he makes his way over to you two, “What’s this about a boy I’m hearing?” he turns on his “Protective Dad” persona.

To that, you roll your eyes, “Dad,” you laugh as he ruffles your hair, placing a kiss to your forehead, “I need to go do my homework,” you announce, needing an excuse to get to your room and out of this conversation.

Your mom narrows her eyes at you, knowing exactly what you were doing but choosing to act dumb about it, “Then what are you doing here young lady, go get to it!” she commands, watching you immediately turn and make your way up the stairs.

“Ah kids these days,” your mom says under her breath, shaking her head in amusement, silently rooting for the two of you.

“I wouldn’t find out that Jin was trying to confess to me that night until a couple of years later in some random conversation, and when I tell you there were several other attempts on both his part and mine to confess, I really mean it. But it was almost as if the universe was waiting for the right moment to let it happen. I just never would’ve thought that the moment would be one so …. unexpected ….”

“So how is he?” you ask Jin’s mother, placing the care basket you made for Jin on his dining table.

“Well you know it is,” she laughs, “no parent really wants to see their kid high off of anesthesia, especially because he’s just been talking complete nonsense for the past hour and refusing to take a nap. But I prefer this than having him walk around with his wisdom teeth aching him.”

You nod your head in understanding, “You don’t mind if I—” and she nods her head yes, understanding what you were insinuating.

“Go for it,” she smiles, “he’ll probably scold me tomorrow for allowing you to see him in that state, but I’m sure he’ll get over it,” she chuckles.

And without a moment of hesitation, you make your way up the stairs and into his room, the first thing you hear is your name being loudly shouted. 

“Y/N!” he slurs out your name, his high pitched laughter following right after. 

A grin immediately appears on your face as you watch the boy who even though was usually in a joking mood most of the time, now had that same mood heightened because of the anesthesia.

You take a seat on the corner of his bed, “How are you feeling Jin?” you ask, genuinely wanting an answer.

He shoots you a toothy grin and gives you not one, but two thumbs up, “I’m feeling amaaaazinnggg,” he sings, “especially now that you’re here,” he dramatically winks.

You feel your face redden, “This is the effects of the anesthesia,” you tell yourself, not allowing yourself to have false hope.

“Y/N Y/N Y/N,” he hums, “you’re so prettyyyyyy,” he stammers his words, his swollen cheeks making it hard to take him seriously.  

“Really? You think?” you go along with him, to which he nods.

“Veryyyyy,” he adds, “too bad I can’t completely see you!” he exclaims, only causing your brow to quirk in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t see you!” he repeats in a sardonic tone, almost as if you were dumb for not understanding. It isn’t until you notice that the bangs of his mullet, which was usually parted, were now prickling at his eyes, probably causing his view of you to be blocked by certain strands of hair.

Laughing to yourself, you grab one of the hairpins you had on and scoot closer to him, carefully clipping his bangs to the side, “Ta da,” you giggle at Jin’s childlike expression, “Now you can see me,” you say.

“Now I can see you,” he repeats in awe, and maybe it was because of the effects of the anesthesia but for some reason you looked much more ethereal than usual. Suddenly, out of nowhere Jin grabs his camera from the bed stand, and you look at him in amazement.

You let out a breath of disbelief, “How is it that even when you’re high off of anesthesia, you still somehow manage to pull out that camera of yours?” you ask him.

“Because y/n, 50 years from now the world needs to know how pretty you areeeee,” he looks at you like a lovestruck fool, his eyes halfway closed as he points the lens in your direction.

“Who would’ve thought that Jin could be such a flirt?” you think to yourself.

“I’m not!” Jin pouts, and it’s only then that you realize you must’ve said the thought out loud, “I’m only flirty with you because I like youuuuu,” he gushes.

“Jin you don’t know what you’re saying,” you blink slowly, not sure whether to believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“Oh but I do!” he barks back like a toddler, “I’ve been trying to confess to you for sooooooo long but I get interrupted EACH. AND. EVERY. TIME,” he complains, and suddenly you feel your heart pound ten times faster, an idiotic smile now forming on your face, “like seriously, every time I get the courage to finally fess up, something just has to happen,” he rambles on, now turning off the camera, something you take note of.

Affectionately, you play with some of the strands of his hair from the back, watching him yawn in the process, “Come on silly boy, I think it’s time for you to sleep,” and surely he does in no time, his soft snores filling the room. 

It’s only then that you grab a post-it note from his desk, scribbling something you were sure he’d read the next day. Happily making your way downstairs, excited for what was to come.

That same night when Jin groggily woke up from his nap, he was confused as to why he had a glitter hair pin in his hair, and why his camera had a post-it note attached to it on his wooden desk. Grabbing the camera, he immediately recognized the handwriting.

‘check your footage from yesterday, you can thank me later xx. y/n.’

And it was once he did that he could’ve swore he felt his eyes go as wide as saucers, his mouth gaping completely open. “I-I confessed,” he says to himself, unsure of whether he really believed it or not, “I confessed!” he repeats to himself, this time much more confident and enthusiastic about it.

Deciding he had no time to waste, he quickly ran down his stairs, his mom confusingly staring at him as he began to grab his jacket and shoes, “And where do you think you’re going?” she asks. 

“Mom, I confessed!” he excitedly shouts before slamming the door behind him shut, ready to knock on your door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Oh Jin!” your mother greets him, amused by his swollen right cheek, “What a surprise,” she chuckles.

“Hello Mrs. Y/L/N,” he respectfully greets, “any chance y/n’s here?” he politely asks, hoping you were home.

Based on the excited look on Jin’s face she could only imagine that he had only good news to share, and so she didn’t hesitate to call you down, “Y/N!” she shouts, and as if you were waiting for it, your bedroom door opens without a second even passing. 

Quickly you make your way down, your mom already having a sense as to what was going to happen by the excited expression on both of your faces. Closing the door once you made your way out, she immediately presses her ear against it.

“Y/N,” Jin breathes out, “I-I confe-OW,” he loudly groans, completely forgetting about his mouth still being sore from the procedure, only causing you to laugh. Even now the universe was finding ways to delay the inevitable.

“You confessed,” you instead say for him, and he nods excitedly, holding his mouth in pain. But it’s only then that he realizes … just because he confessed didn’t mean you automatically felt the same way.  

His face reddens. 

Ready to make a dash for it, you grab his hand before he could. A touching smile now on your face, “I like you too,” you say, squeezing his hand in reassurance. And immediately you see the relief wash over him, his tense shoulders relaxing.

“I’d kiss you, but I don’t think I can move my lips,” he manages to mumble out, the sudden jolt of pain minutes earlier now making it hard for him to talk.

You giggle at this, then tippy toeing and placing a peck to his lips, deciding that it’d be enough to satisfy the two of you. And without notice your mom opens the door, making the two of you jump in surprise.

“Awwwww, finally!” she pretends to weep, and you’re quick to furrow your brows.

“Mom!”

“And so that was the exact moment our friendship had officially blossomed into something more… I had officially fallen in love with the boy next door. And so we spent the rest of the school year doing whatever it is high school couples do. The occasional hand holding here and there, the timid kisses, but most importantly… despite there now being a shift in our relationship, we still spoke to one another like the best of friends we were before. Because at the end of the day he was still just the boy next door.

But of course soon we’d find ourselves having to confront the looming topic over our heads … college.”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The door opens.

“It arrived,” you frantically say to the boy in front of you, an envelope in your hand. He motions for you to come in, his heart now beating as fast as yours.

Sitting down on the dining chair, you watch as he runs up the stairs to his room in order to grab the envelope that had arrived at his house a day prior to yours. 

The sealed envelopes, which read ‘Seoul National University” in a big blue font along with its famous logo stamped onto it were now being held by your guys’ jittery fingers. 

“When are they getting here?” you ask Jin, who had just seated himself.

Glancing at his watch, he answers, “Any second now,” his foot bounces up and down out of nervousness, “I told them to be here an hour earlier than planned because I knew they’d get here late,” he says, patting himself in the back for his trick.

“Well they need to get here faster,” you complain, tapping your nails against the table.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Finally,” you groan, watching the rest of your friends walk into Jin’s kitchen.

“Sorry we caught traffic,” Taehyung lies, munching on his last fry.

You roll your eyes at the poor attempt, ”You’re such a bad liar,” you say, deciding not to press him any further on the issue. “Let’s just get to opening these things.”

The boys nod, taking a final deep breath in, ready to rip open the envelopes. 

“Wait,” Jin suddenly demands, “Let me set the camera,” and immediately he’s met with dramatic eye rolls and groans, but you guys allow him to do so nonetheless. “Okay you guys, remember whatever the results are behind these, we all have to promise ourselves that it won’t change anything. It doesn’t make anyone better than the rest, and we’ll all certainly still be friends in college,” he says and you all nod in agreement, for a moment forgetting that whatever the results were inside your envelopes, you’d all still remain friends no matter what.

“Okay, 1..2...3,” you count down, and at the same time you all pull out your decision letters.

“I got in!” Namjoon yells excitedly.

“Me too!” Taehyung says after him, a grin on his face.

“Holy shit, me too,” Yoongi repeats after him.

“Me as well,” Seokjin says nonchalantly, not exactly caring for his acceptance but more about yours as he immediately turns his attention towards you. 

Having watched you stay up late studying for the entrance exams for the past couple of weeks, he knew just how nervous you were about these letters and as both your boyfriend and your friend, he couldn’t help but root for you much more than himself.

But it’s once he sees the saddened expression on your face that he knows …

“Y/N…” Taehyung whispers in sadness.

“I—” you slouch your shoulders, looking away from their gazes, “I didn’t get in,” you murmur, your voice signaling that you were on the verge of crying. 

Jin is quick to turn off the camera and goes to wrap his arms around you, placing a soft kiss on top of your head and softly rubbing your back in an effort to comfort you. He sends a look to the boys as if to say he thinks it’d be best for them to leave, for now at least.

They nod in understanding, beginning to make their way out until they hear you say “Wait!” and at an attempt to ease the tension, you try and hide the sadness in your voice, “Congratulations, truly,” you send them a weak smile before they leave, and they send you a small smile in return, sad that their friend didn’t get into the college of their dreams.

“Hey don’t cry,” Jin comforts you, giving you more pecks on top of your head, feeling his heart swell more and more by the second.

“I thought I worked so hard,” you sniffle, the tears slowly falling down your cheeks.

“Hey don’t say that! You did work hard princess,” he scolds you, pulling you into a tight hug and tipping your chin up so that he could look at you properly, a soft look on his face while he brushed your hair away from your face, “That stupid school doesn’t know what they’re missing out on, you hear me?” He squeezes your cheek when you don’t reply, “Heyyyyyyyy, don’t ignore meeee,” he teases, placing a soft kiss on your lips.

All you can do is roll your eyes once you feel your cheeks get hot, damn him and his everlasting effect on you. “My dad’s going to be so disappointed,” you mumble, already dreading the conversation. The sole reason you even wanted to get into that school was to impress him, to make him feel that he didn’t have to worry about your future.

“No he’s not,” Jin states in confidence, and you look at him in curiosity, “because your dad is nothing like mine,” he jokes, reassuring you, “Because I’m sure that for both your mom and dad, as long as you’re happy and pursuing whatever it is you want to, they’ll be more than happy to support you along the way.”

“You think so?” you ask him, a small pout on your lips.

“Ah I know so princess,” he gives you a small comforting smile, “Come on let’s watch a movie and eat some popcorn before you go home. I just bought Goodfellas on VHS the other day,” he says, leading you to the living room, the heavy feeling that had been weighing down your chest, not so heavy anymore.

“And so that night I told my parents the decision SNU had made, and just like Jin said they were completely supportive, not even the slightest disappointed. Luckily, the college that did accept me was not at all far away from Seoul National University meaning Jin and I did not have to worry about a ‘long distance relationship’ because trust me, a long distance relationship in the 90s was even ten times more harder to manage than how you kids have it today with your phones.

Honestly, our first year in college passed by in the blink of an eye. I’m not sure if it's because I was always with Jin and our group of friends running around in a big old city with so many more different things to explore, but by the time we reached our second year, we were beginning to ask ourselves where time was going by…. “

“Cheers to our first year!” you and the boys lift up your drinks of Soju, clinking the bottles as a way of commemorating your first successful year in college.

Laughter fills the air while you all talk about the good and the bad of college, from the nightmare drunk stories to typing last minute essays on a jammed computer inside the library. “To think we were all panicking about how we’d do,” Yoongi says, shaking his head.

“I know, but now we have to start declaring our majors soon,” Taehyung mentions, “I still don’t know whether I want to major in sociology or psychology…”

“Me neither, I’ve been leaning towards linguistics,” Namjoon adds, “What about you y/n?” he asks you.

You think about it for a moment before answering, “Engineering Physics.”

“Woah,” Namjoon looks at you in shock, “Good luck to you,” he jokingly scoffs.

You shrug, a certain glimmer appearing in your eyes as you make eye contact with him, “Don’t you find it interesting? The possibilities of there being more than one universe out there, different dimensions, hell maybe even a parallel universe!” you say in excitement, clearly passionate about the field, “Namjoon there’s probably hundreds of you who like to pick their nose just like you!” you throw in the playful jab, making him flip you off while the rest of the boys laugh their asses off.

“What about you Jin?” Yoongi asks his longtime friend, who for some reason tonight was quieter than usual, something clearly on his mind.

And as if brought back to reality he looks at all you with a surprised expression, “O-oh,” he stutters, “um Business Administration?” he says, unconvinced of his own answer.

Yoongi nods his head, “As expected, as expected. Business does run in the family,” and though you know Yoongi meant no harm in the comment, you couldn’t help but notice how tense Jin got after hearing it, as if it only further killed his mood.

“Hey,” you softly whisper into his ear, grabbing his attention while Yoongi begins to talk about something else, “everything good?” 

Immediately his expression softens, and he quietly nods yes, not wanting you to worry. But no matter how well Jin thought he was at hiding emotions like sadness or anger from you, any change in his behavior, albeit small or large, was always obvious to you.

Making a mental note to talk to him later, you subtly keep an eye on him for the rest of night, your mind wondering what it could be.

Jin plays with your loose strands of hair while he watches you soundly sleep, your skin warm and slick with the efforts of your earlier endeavors.

It hadn’t been long since he moved into this apartment with Namjoon, and though you weren’t exactly officially living with them, with the number of mornings he’d wake up to having you beside him, he and Namjoon might as well have considered you their third roommate. 

Not like Joon was complaining, the breakfasts he’d wake up to you making completely cancelling out the occasional use of his ear plugs for nights like these…..

Trailing his fingers across your shoulders, he traces the curves of your collarbones, savoring the moment. It wasn’t until he suddenly heard you speak that he realized you weren’t asleep at all, “Can’t sleep?” you ask, opening your eyes.

“Y/N, go to sleep, it’s late,” he mumbles in the darkness.

Ignoring him, you move to make yourself more comfortable, “Something’s bothering you,” you simply state, and that he can’t deny.

“Y/N... “ he’s about to begin, but you weren’t having any of it.

“Seokjin,” you say his full name, something you’d rarely done since you met him, “you know you can tell me,” you reassure, squeezing his hand, “it’s my job to listen,” you add for extra comfort.

And for a moment he looks as if he’s contemplating something, not really accustomed to being the one talking. 

Especially because if you were to ask anyone who’s ever known Jin, then they’d tell you they’d almost never seen the man in a bad nor sad mood. 

Because for the sake of others, Jin had always been the one to remain cheerful when things were bad, the one to crack jokes even whenever he felt down, the one who liked imitating Mariah Carey’s whistle notes in the car while driving, the person everyone could always rely on whether it be for laughs, advice, or just anything. 

It was just who Jin was as a person.

He sighs once he’s made his decision to tell you, “You know how we were talking about declaring majors and stuff tonight?” 

Silently, you nod your head, and he sighs again, “Well I was thinking about something the other day…” he pauses, shifting his body to the side, leaning his head against his hand and now completely facing you, “Remember that first conversation we had in my mom’s car the day you moved into town, when I was taking you to diner?” He asks the rhetorical question, continuing with his thoughts, “How I said that people usually have expectations already set on them and with the pressure of being successful, no one ever truly takes the risk of pursuing what they’re passionate about?”

You nod again, wondering where this was going.

“It wasn’t until earlier this month when I revisited that conversation in the midst of everyone talking about declaring majors and their future careers that I realized that really I was just talking about myself,” he sighs, and suddenly everything becomes clearer to you, and a look of understanding becomes apparent on your face.  

He gulps before continuing, “For so long I’ve been so scared to seriously pursue directing and the world of entertainment all because of my fear of disappointing my dad because Yoongi’s right … business does run in my family and I don’t know if it’s cause I’m the oldest but there’s always been an expectation set on me. An expectation to be the best. An expectation to be successful.”

Slowly, you begin to run your hands through his hair, allowing him to talk as much as he wanted because you knew this was one of the very rare moments that he was going voice everything he had been thinking for so long.

“And so when I hear people like you or Taehyung or even just classmates talk so passionately about what they wanna do in the future I can’t help but wish I had that same courage to to pursue what I want. I mean hell, look at Yoongi pursuing a career in music and producing. I like business, I do, but it’s just not for me, and now just like how you and the rest of the boys are pursuing your dreams, I wanna pursue mine, no matter what it takes. For the first time in my life I want to be 100% selfish, I want to choose me.”

He remains silent after finishing his little speech, a signal that he now wanted your input. He needed to hear something, anything, for he was tired of bearing the weight of his worries by himself.

Gathering your thoughts, you give him a kiss to the lips before continuing, your heart swelling for the man in front of you, “Jin if you want to pursue your dreams then do it,” you grab his hand and kiss his knuckle, “Because I’m just as sure you’ll be successful in the future, plus it’s better to live a life without regrets than with…” you pause, “But I also don’t think it’d be right if I wasn’t rational with you. You’re gonna have to tell your parents, and it’s also important to know that like any other career there is a risk of not making it because at the end of the day that’s how life works and sometimes things are just out of our control… but the real question is if you’re willing to accept it if it happens…”

Jin breaks away his eye contact with you, your words sadly ringing true, “Hey,” you turn his head with your hand in order to have him face you again, now resting your hand on his cheek, “Everything will be okay,” you reassure, “I’ll be with you every step of the way,” you kiss his other cheek. 

To that, he smiles.

“Tomorrow,” he randomly says, only causing you to be confused until he continues, “Tomorrow I’m going home and telling my parents what I wanna do. And you’re coming with me… for moral support that is,” he shoots you a grin, and for a moment your eyes are wide in surprise because well… you certainly weren’t expecting him to do it so soon, “Please?” he pouts, making you roll your eyes playfully.

“Like you have to ask,” you say, tightly wrapping your arms around his broad shoulders and burying your face in the crook of his neck, a good night’s sleep following soon after.

“If only we had known things weren’t going to go down as smoothly as we thought it was…”

“Dad you don’t get it…” Jin pushes his hair back with his hand, a sign that he was stressed.

His dad scoffs, “What’s there not to get? You’re choosing something that’s a complete risk over something that has a future, a guaranteed solid one at that. Let’s be feasible here Seokjin...”

Silently you watch the exchange between father and son. Yeah, the two of you knew that there’d be some backlash to Jin’s decision from his parents (if not only his father) but to be here for over 3 hours now, watching the two go back and forth wasn’t what anyone had expected. Neither side relenting on why the other was wrong. But time was ticking, and soon one would pop, you just hadn’t expected it to be Jin first.

“I just can’t dad!” he shouts, interrupting his dad, his voice echoing across the walls. Momentary silence followed, enough to hear a pin drop fall, “I-I just can’t,” Jin’s voice breaks, his eyes desperately pleading for his dad to just once in his life understand.

A scornful laugh comes out of his dad’s mouth before he exhales a big deep breath, “Okay,” he monotonously states, and for a moment a flicker of hope appears in both Jin’s and your eyes, but as fast as it came, it left even quicker, “You can pursue your little venture into the world or entertainment and directing, but just know I never agreed to paying for a degree in Film, I agreed to one in Business. And so if you really want it that bad, it’s coming out of your pocket,”he declares, shocking everyone in the room. 

“Sungjin,” Jin’s mother, who had only watched the exchange like you the whole time, finally speaks up, in just as much as shock as you and Jin. Paying for college out of his pocket? That was almost impossible.

Jin’s father raises his hand, as if to let him continue, “Be grateful I’m still agreeing to pay for that apartment of yours, I’m not cruel enough to let my own son jump from place to place.”

Jin shakes his head, “No,” he says, and you look at him confused, “I’ll pay for my own apartment as well as everything else you help pay for,” with a hardened scowl now on his face he continues, “and I’ll prove you wrong,” he declares. 

His father could only look at him with skepticism until his own expression followed his son’s. The two really were two sides of the same coin.

“Come on y/n let’s go,” he scoffs, getting up from his chair and going to kiss his mom on the cheek, you politely (but also awkwardly) dismiss yourself, following him outside and into his car.

“Why the hell did you do that?” you finally ask, one of the many questions you had running in your head, “and how the hell do you plan on paying for everything out of your own pocket?”

“Because y/n,” he runs his hand through his hair, turning on the car in order to let the ignition warm up, “I want to prove him wrong,” he repeats his reasoning from earlier, shrugging his shoulders in the process, “I’ll just pick up extra hours at work, holiday season is starting soon and my manager being the lazy man he is would rather overwork an employee aka me than hire someone new.”

You pout, “Does that mean no more movie nights?” you whine, making him laugh.

“We’ll still have them princess,” he gives you a peck on the cheek, “Just not as frequent that’s all,” he then follows the kiss with a squeeze on the cheek, “meaning we have to savor them more,” he concludes, the two of you well on your way home, a happy couple once in love.

“This …. This is where our story slowly begins to take a bit of shift. It’s where the bright flowers we once held onto so tightly begin to slowly wilt when faced with the real world, where destiny and fate cross roads, creating and molding choices both within and out of our control…”

“Place your tassels to the left...” the students in the arena follow the command. “and congratulations to the new class of 1996!” the chancellor of SNU announces, and soon the sight of graduation caps being thrown left and right follows. 

You feel your throat go sore from the amount of cheering you’re doing on the stands, watching as Jin and your group of friends hug in celebration, following with excited waves directed towards you and Jin’s mother along with his siblings.

Jin’s father, who claimed he was too busy with work, wasn’t able to make it, not that it was much of a surprise to anyone. Ever since Jin declared his financial independence from his dad, their relationship wasn’t exactly a favorable one, not that there was ever much to work with. 

But in the end Jin understood his father and he understood why he couldn’t be supportive because like any other parent all Jin’s father wanted was to ensure Jin lived a successful life where he wouldn’t have to worry about finances and whether there’d be food on the table albeit it be for only himself or his future family.

The class song, “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey begins to play, and you feel your stomach cramp at laughing so hard because of Jin’s sudden dancing, the boys soon following his movements. You really had to take him to a Mariah Carey concert soon.

“Let’s go meet them in the parking lot,” Jin’s mother shouts over the chaos of people leaving the bleacher stands.

You nod, following her lead, all while helping Minjun and Yeonha (who were now 10) not get lost in the crowd. Once you make it to the parking lot, you find Jin, who had made it there before you all, and immediately you run to hug him, his siblings following suit.

His mom who's holding his famous old camcorder, records the moment, but once Jin spots it, he’s quick to cover his face by nuzzling his head into the crook of your neck. “How is it that the person always recording things, hates being recorded?” you chuckle, trying to push him off so that he’d have no choice but to be recorded.

“Mm don’t forget being pictured,” he mumbles, maneuvering you in a way that he could reach the camera in his mom’s hands, tackle her into a big hug and successfully get her to turn off the camera.

“Congratulations my Seokjin,” his mom kisses his cheek, ruffling his hair like she did when he was a kid. 

Jin, who ditched the mullet about two years ago, now sported a more clean cut look, resembling a comma in the front while still a little lengthy from the sides. In a way it made him look a bit more youthful, not that he had to worry, for that man truly did not age. You were sure that even now at 21 years of age, Jin was going to look like this for the rest of his life because 4 years ago at age of 17 he looked exactly the same. You could only hope your own genes did the same.

“Thanks mom,” he smiled.

“Now for a picture,” she said while pulling out a Kodak disposable camera from her purse, but before she could even attempt at taking a picture, Jin was already getting into his car.

“Ahh later mom, let’s just go eat for now,” he announces, “The graduation boy is really hungry,” he gives her the puppy dog eyes before entering the car.

She rolls her eyes, “Fine. We’ll meet you two over there,” she says, “Come on you two,” she motions to the two twins to follow her back to her car.

“I still can’t believe you wanna drive all the way out to that old diner in Gwacheon as a way of celebrating your graduation,” you say as Jin reverses out of his parking spot, one hand on the steering wheel while the rest of his body was turned to make sure that no cars were passing.

Once he was safely out of the parking lot, he then replies, “Because y/n, there’s nothing better than a nice BLT sandwich on a Saturday night, don’t you think?”

“They’re not even all that—” you’re about to lecture him until he interrupts.

“Ah Ah ah, I’m the graduation boy,” he pouts while driving, “We went all the way to Itaewon to try that Italian food you wanted so bad when it was your graduation day, and you didn’t hear me complain.”

You narrow your eyes at him, damn him …

“Mm,” you mumble.

“Oh I love this song!” Jin, with his right hand, turns up the volume to the radio, “Californiaaaa loveeee,” he repeats after the robot, the music now blasting in the background as he gets on the highway, now on your way back home.

“Passing” you the imaginary mic in his hand, he expects you to sing with him and for a moment you stare at him with a deadpan look until of course you smile at his foolishness, “California knows how to party,” you sing, passing him the “mic”.

“In the cityyyyy of LA,” he continues along, and it goes like this the whole car ride. The two of you going back and forth singing songs from famous artists such as the Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, Radiohead, Nirvana, and of course Jin’s favorite, Miss Mariah Carey.

And just like that the day goes by in the blink of an eye, from eating at the diner with his mom and siblings, to visiting your parents until finally the two of you found yourselves sitting on your porch just like the good old days. 

Resting your head against his shoulder, both of you stare at the sky above in silence, the stars out and shining bright tonight.

“We really graduated,” you say in disbelief, breaking the silence. Jin turns his attention to you, a small smile on his face.

“Crazy huh?” he interlocks his hand with yours, kissing the knuckles of it, “Time went by in the blink of an eye, and now we’re officially in the real world. Nothing but a tiny speck in such a large universe, almost like the stars,” he chuckles looking back up to the sky, and you gaze at him with a soft look in your eyes. If only he knew how much brighter he shined compared to them. 

“Jin…” you randomly say, “I love you,” and though he’s heard it come out of your mouth many many times before tonight, each and every time he did hear it, his heart swelled the same as the first.

Unlocking his hand from yours, he instead wraps his arm across your shoulder, gently bringing you closer to him, enough that you could even hear the sound of his heart beating. Something that not even a video camera could capture. This was a memory you two would just have to remember on your own when you are both old and grey.

“I love you too princess,” he whispers, “I love you too,” he repeats to himself, “You know, I’ve been thinking these days about our future...” you look up at him from your position, childlike curiosity now shown across your face, “I feel like since we’ve always lived moment to moment since we’ve met, I’ve never really asked you…” he pauses debating whether to ask, “what kind of future do you want?”

Softly chucking, you shrug, “You really wanna hear it?” you ask, and he furrows his brows, almost offended you’d even ask, but rather than scold you he simply nods, “Hmm..” you think for a moment, “I picture us both having successful careers and living in the big city while we’re at our peak, getting married on a whim and occasionally traveling the world in search of an adventure,” you pause, “but when the time comes to finally relax, then I’d want to move back here, to where it’s calm and quiet, buy ourselves a house and maybe we’d even have a kid, just one though,” you emphasize.

He arches his brow, “Just one?” he asks.

You nod your head, “After babysitting your siblings, yes, just one,” you repeat with laughter and he himself can’t help but laugh, “I think a girl preferably, but I wouldn’t be mad at a boy, They would probably take after you in looks,” you add, nudging his shoulder. 

He blushes for a moment, before faking smugness and winking at you.  

You laugh at his confidence before continuing, “And we’d show them the different places this town has just like how you showed me, enough that they’d want to stay here when they’re older,” Jin notices how your eyes glisten as you talk of a time that felt so far away, “And we’d be a small little happy family, supporting whatever it is that their dream will be. And then we’d grow old and grey, maybe have a couple of grandkids running around, and we’d simply be proud of the life we’ve built together—”

And before you could continue on any further, the feeling of his soft lips placed against yours interrupts you, nothing but passion exchanged in the kiss. It isn’t until you’re both out of breath that you break away, Jin immediately framing his hands over your cheeks, “Promise me?” he asks, and you wrinkle in confusion, “Promise me you’ll live a life you’re proud of?”

“As long as you do the same,” you softly answer in return, and silently he nods, “then let’s do it.”

“If only I knew … If only he had been honest with me that night then maybe things could’ve been talked about right then and there before it got out of control…”

Jin crumples the rejection letter and throws it in the trash, frustrated by yet another rejection letter from a directing internship. Tonight he was visiting his parents for dinner while you were out of town on a trip to Busan with some college friends you’d met your freshman year. Taking the opportunity of being by himself in your guys’ apartment, he shredded the number of rejection letters he’d received from several programs in the past couple of months. Too ashamed to show you them.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t but feel frustrated. It’d been a year since the two of you had graduated college, and while your career in engineering physics was going great, he couldn’t say the same about his career in directing. Of course when you’d ask how everything was going, he’d feign a smile and say he was still waiting to hear back, guilty that he was incapable of telling you the truth.  

Fixing the yellow unbuttoned dress shirt he was wearing over his plain white t-shirt and striped vest, he combs a hand through his hair one last time before leaving, feeling as if his head was about to explode.

“I made Naengmyun, your favorite,” Jin’s mother sets the bowl of noodles down along with several other sides, making sure her oldest son was eating good tonight. She was also trying to mitigate the awkwardness that was in the air tonight, this being one of the very rare occasions Jin and his father spent time together. Over the last year, things still were still stiff between the two, Jin’s father still clearly not accepting of his career choice.

Jin, who didn’t have much of an appetite, stirred with his noodles, hoping his mother wouldn’t notice.

“So Seokjin…” his mothers begins once she seats herself, “how’s everything been going so far?” she asks, genuinely wanting to know what her son has been up to these days.

Jin, trying not to look too uninterested, gives a simple response, “Um it’s been going good,” he casually says.

She nods, “What about y/n?” she asks, always interested in hearing about you.

At this question, Jin seems to perk up more, this change in behavior not going unnoticed by someone else at the table, “Great,” he says, “she’s currently working at a paid internship for some technical writing company that specializes in space and astronomy,” he continues on, “she really seems to love it.” 

A smile appears on his mother’s face, happy to know that you were doing great. 

“But what about you?” the voice across the table suddenly asks, and Jin is met with the glare of his father, “you seem to have so much to say about y/n, but so little about yourself,” his dad comments, and Jin could physically feel his stomach drop, his words reminding him of what he just shredded at home not too long ago.

“What do you want me to say?” Jin asks, hiding his nervousness through a monotone voice.

His dad scoffs, “That you’re doing something with your life,” he says a little too harshly, “that you’re not living in the shadow of your girlfriend.”

“Sungj—”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jin sneers in the same amount of attitude his dad had.

“Seokjin!” his mother shouts, “That’s your father you're speaking to,” she reminds him, believing that the practice of respect should still be something upheld no matter what, “Kids, go to your room,” she tells the twins, and without question they do.

Jin quickly calms himself down, just wanting to leave before this escalated any more, “It means that I told you that business was the way to go, but no you were so adamant on proving me wrong and pursuing your dreams that now you can’t even guarantee yourself an independent future!” his dad spat in return, his voice now raising with every sentence . The bottled feelings from years ago now spilling out... rapidly at that.

“Why is it that with you it’s always business, business, business?” Jin throws his hands in the air, “I mean really that’s all I’ve ever heard from you growing up! Jin you need to be like this, Jin you need to make sure you do this, Jin I need this from you,” he mocks his dad, “I mean really is that all you care about dad? Meeting your expectations? Following your footsteps?”

“I do it because you’re my son Seokjin! My son, who I thought I raised to think critically, to strive for success—”

“You think I’m not trying?” Seokjin shouts, his voice turning hoarse at the end, “You think I wanted to fail? To have to come to the realization that—” he stutters, “that shit’s not going how I planned it?” Jin’s mother feels her eyes brim with tears, “That while my long time girlfriend is on her way to becoming a star in her field that I’m stuck waiting tables with a useless degree in my pocket! Is that what you want me to say, dad? Is that it?”

He remains silent.

“You think I don’t know that I’ve made a mistake? That I don’t wake up with the dread of knowing that I’m not at all good for her? That while she could be with someone who makes just as much money as she does and actually provides for her, she decides to stick with me? The person who can hardly offer her anything?” rather than feeling a weight come off his shoulders, Jin feels an extra burden get added on, almost feeling suffocated.

“Well then I’m sorry dad! I’m sorry I couldn’t be the magnificent first born son you wanted!” by now tears are spilling out of Jin’s eyes in such a rapid pace that his vision blurs.

All his father can do is stare at him, unsure of what to say or do.

Growing up Jin’s father wasn’t much of an affectionate parent, that role being filled more by his mother than his dad. If anything his father usually kept more of a reserved and stoic personality, his love language shown by the long nights of work he puts in for his family at the office and the constant pushing for success. And so here in this moment, to have his oldest son who he’d push to his complete limit cry his heart out in front of him, probably in desperate need of a hug, Sungjin just couldn’t bring himself to comfort him.

And so instead he simply said, “Goodnight Seokjin,” in the softest voice possible, before making his way upstairs to his bedroom, leaving the words he so desperately wanted to say unsaid.

Jin feels the arms of his mother hug him, her eyes as teary stained as his, “Ah Seokjin,” her voice breaks as she attempts to comfort him.

“I—” Jin hesitates, “I need to go back home mom,” and gently he breaks away from the hug.

“Seokjin…” his mother worries, “Just stay here for the night, I’ll grab your old sheets from the closet and—”

“Mom,” he simply says, a way of finalizing his decision

Knowing she wasn’t going to be able to convince him, she squeezes his shoulder in an effort to comfort him, “Drive safe,” she says.

He nods, just wanting to go home and sleep the night away.

Unlocking the door to your guys’ apartment, Jin was surprised to see you in the kitchen making ramen, your packed bags laid across the couch. 

Having heard the door open, you turn to face him, “Hey—” and almost immediately your expression goes from one of happiness to one of concern. Quickly you rush towards him, his puffy eyes telling you that he’d been crying, “Hey, what’s wrong?” you raise your hand to cup his cheek.

Jin simply stares at you with a saddened look, unsure of what to say. “Hey, I’ve realized tonight after an argument with my father that I’m a complete utter failure, and you have no chance at a happy future by being with me.” Is that what he should say? It was the truth, wasn’t it?

“It’s—” he pauses, “It’s nothing,” he lowers your hand from his face, taking off his shoes and setting his keys down.

“Seokjin—”

“Y/N, it’s nothing,” he repeats, his way of telling you that he was serious, “I’m going to bed,” he exhales a deep sigh, making his way towards the bedroom, leaving you standing in the living room by yourself, wondering what in the hell just happened?

The next morning, as per usual Jin awoke to an empty bed, your Monday’s usually having you go in very early in the morning. 

Jin groaned as he got up, remembering that today was his day off. God, did he just wanna stay in bed all day, but remembering that the two of you were running low on groceries, he thought might as well make himself useful and do the buying for the week.

Looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, he noticed the strands of his hair he once kept short now getting longer, resembling the mullet he used to have when he was a teen. Not that he hated it or anything, but it was an odd sight to see, and so he grabbed his hair cutting scissors from the cabinet and began to unevenly chop the long strands of hair ultimately resulting in a chopped banged look. To make it look more natural, he ruffled his hair at the end, not bothering to style it.

After that he changed into casual clothing and made his way to the grocery store, relying on nothing but his pure memory for the things he needed to buy. 

Humming while pushing the cart full of groceries back to his car, he stops when something catches his eye. 

Across the street was the headquarters of one of the internships he had applied for. And maybe it was due to the argument he had with his dad the day before, or the fact that he’d been feeling like a complete utter failure recently, but getting into his car, Jin couldn’t bring himself to drive away and go back home. Instead he got out of the car and began to walk across the street, unsure of what it was he was planning to do.

Ding. Ding.

Jin rings the service bell, that impulsive courageous feeling he felt earlier suddenly abandoning him.

A man, who looked like he was near Jin’s age, walks out of the back office, a tag that read the name “Jungkook” pinned on the left side of his chest, “Hello, how can I help you?” he greets, a small smile on his face.

“Oh um—” Jin becomes flustered, but deciding that there was no backing down he continued on, “I sent in an application here a couple of months ago and I haven’t heard back from anyone, so I was just wondering—”

Jungkook’s face becomes one of nervousness, “Oh I’m sorry sir—” he tries to interrupt but Jin relents.

“If there’d been some kind of delay in the process, and well if there has been, if I could talk to someone because I really need—”

“Sir,” Jungkook repeats, this time halting Jin from continuing, “that position you’re talking about was filled months ago,” he practically whispers with a look of both awkwardness and pity on his face, “maybe your letter got lost in the mail, but there’s not really much you can do by coming in here.”

Jin, clearly in denial, nods his head no, “Please,” he pleads, “I just need to talk to someone for like ten minutes at most, I swear.”

“Sir—”

“Can’t you write down my number or something? Pass it on at least?!”

Jungkook can only stare at the frantic man, unsure of what to say or do, “I-” he stutters, “I can’t,” he ultimately says, not wanting to give this man false hope nor waste his time by writing his name and number down, “I’m gonna have to call security if you don’t leave,” he says, voice wobbling. 

It’s only then that Jin realizes how crazy he must’ve looked. Not only was he in casual clothing, but his hair was all messy and he was sure his eyes must’ve been dilated in cause of his desperation.

“I’m-I’m sorry,” he whispers under his breath, hastily making his way out. 

What was he thinking? Barging in and demanding things like that…. God he was losing it. Though he knew better than to let his dad’s words get to him, for some reason they were just eating at him.

“... it’s also important to know that like any other career there is a risk of not making it because at the end of the day that’s how life works and sometimes things are just out of our control… but the real question is if you’re willing to accept it if it happens…”

Your words from years ago ring in his head, and he shakes his head in denial. No he wasn’t … he wasn’t willing to accept it and he knew he’d only continue looking like a fool if he didn’t. But he just couldn’t. Because fully accepting it would mean he’d let you down. That the person you said you were sure was going to make it, was nothing but a failure.

And so he walks back to his car, dreadfully going back home, forgetting the words you spoke after. 

That everything would be okay, and that you’d be with him every step of the way.

“Since the day Jin and I had met, we had never seriously fought over anything, yeah, we’d occasionally get into a petty quarrel, but never enough to really get us truly mad. Things like which character in a movie was morally correct, or who ate the leftovers from the night before were as heated as our arguments ever got, and even then we’d always forgive each other after a couple of hours of cooling off, but this time… this time it was different. This time it was serious.”

Opening the door, Jin sighed as set down the bagged groceries on the floor, mentally and physically exhausted from everything, personally declaring to himself that this week was just a really bad week for him. 

Taking off his shoes, he began to make his way into the kitchen, deciding that maybe a cold cup of water would relax him. 

But when he was met with you, sitting on the kitchen isle’s chair with several shredded pieces of paper on the surface of the isle in front of you, along with an unshredded one in your hand, he was sure he wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear.

The look on your face said everything, it was a mixture of betrayal, anger, and sadness all in one. The two of you stared at each other for the longest, words not having to be exchanged in order to understand what was going on, until finally you break the silence and it’s what you ask that Jin swore he felt his soul go cold, “W-Why?” is all you say, your voice weak and fragile.

He gulps down the lump in his throat, the words barely managing to come out of his mouth, “Because y/n I just—” he pauses, unsure of what to say, “I just couldn’t tell you,” he ultimately says, pushing his hair back with his hand.

“But why?” you repeat the same question from before, your voice now growing louder as you get up from the seat, “I just don’t understand,” you add because no, you weren’t angry, you weren’t sad … you were hurt. You were concerned. You were worried. For you had just found out that the man you loved more than anything went to this extent to hide something from you. To hide something so … trivial.

Tears well up in your eyes when you notice the glossiness in his own eyes, “You—” his voice cracks, “You wouldn’t get it,” he states, and this causes you to get defensive.

“I’m sure I would, if you’d just talk to me,” you barked back, coming closer to him, “Whatever it was, it should’ve never resorted to this!” you flail the paper in your hands around. 

You don’t mean to yell, but you do. It was frustration that was coming out of your mouth, he had to understand that … right? 

Sighing you continue, “Today at work I just couldn’t focus, not when I knew there was something seriously bothering you,” you explain how you’d come to find the paper along with the rest of it’s shredded companions, “So I asked if I could leave early, thinking that since you had the day off I could maybe possibly get whatever it was out of you. Of course seeing that you weren’t here, I did some snooping of my own and well…” you shake your head.

“You’ve been lying to me for months Seokjin…. each time I’d ask you if you’d heard anything you’d say no, knowing you had … and for what? Because you didn’t wanna show me that you got rejected?” you sigh in dismay because despite him not answering you, you knew exactly why he didn’t tell you anything, “I would’ve helped you, you know? We could’ve worked on your resume or make a better project to show, I could’ve helped,” you grab his hand, a way of wanting to show that even now you were still beside him, “Say something Jin,” your voice breaks.  

“You don’t—” he looks down at you, “You don’t get it y/n,” he monotonously repeats, removing your hand from his and walking towards the bedroom, a tired expression on his face. 

He could feel it… he could feel himself cracking. With every minute that continued to pass in this wretched day, the selfless Jin everyone knew and loved was reaching his breaking point and the last person he wanted to take it out on was you. But you just kept pushing.

“Seokjin!” you force him to turn around by pulling at his hand, “Just talk to me!” you demand.

“And say what!” he finally screams, “What do you want me to say y/n?!” he cries out, tears spewing out of his eyes, “That I completely failed at my dream? That my dad was right, and that film was nothing but a mistake? That I could be working at some fancy company that pays a decent salary rather than relying on tips from a hard day’s work? That when I look at myself in the mirror, I see nothing but a failure!”

“Don’t say that about yourself,” you demand.

“It’s true isn’t it?” he questions, “Can’t you see that I’m not the person you think I am, that you’ve wasted your time being with some—”

“Just shut up already,” you grit your teeth, “... can’t you see I don’t care? I don’t care if you’re the richest or poorest man on Earth, I don’t care if your dad thinks that your career path is wrong, I don’t care if you or other people think you don’t deserve what you have, I just don’t care! What I do care about is your happiness and that shouldn’t rely on meeting other people’s expectations, including my own Seokjin. Because trust me, as long as I’m with you, I’m the happiest girl in the world. I promise you, if there’s one thing that’s true in this world, it’s that,” you lay your heart bare.

By now the both of you are crying, tears silently rolling down from the corners of each other's eyes. 

It hurt to see Jin think so lowly of himself, especially when you knew just how much of an amazing person he was.

“Y/N…” he whispers your name as softly as he can, “I’m just really tired, and I just really wanna go to sleep,” his voice breaks.

“Seokjin—”

“Please?” he frowns, his eyes yearning to be closed.

“I’ll—” you pause for a moment, “I’ll see you in bed then,” you ultimately say, sadness looming in the air for the words unsaid.

Silently nodding, Jin makes his way to the bedroom, gently shutting the door behind him and exhaling a deep breath of air, silent muffled sobs finally escaping. A decision already set in his mind.

“A part of me used to think that I should’ve immediately went to bed that night, that then I would’ve caught him crying and maybe we could’ve thoroughly talked everything out that night, but then I think about all of the events that later happened after that night, and that’s when I understand that maybe we were doomed from the beginning…”

It had been a couple of weeks since the argument with Jin and though your interactions were still a little stiff with one another, you were still hopeful that things would get better. They had to.

Sighing, you unlock the door to your apartment, ready to take a nap after a long day of work. Kicking off your shoes, you say something outloud, assuming that Jin was in the kitchen like he usually was whenever you’d come back from work, “Jin take out the kimchi from the fridge for me please,” your voice weirdly echoes across the room, changing your course of direction from the bathroom to the kitchen.

“Jin?” you ask to an empty kitchen, “Hm,” you hum to yourself, maybe he was in the bedroom …

Walking inside, you see that he isn’t there, but what you do notice is the sudden emptiness of the room. The clothes he’d have thrown around no longer scattered around the room, and his little Mario figurines were no longer on the wooden shelf you two had built from scratch …. What in the hell was going on?

“Seokjin?” you shout again, hoping this was some kind of stupid prank on his part. 

In a panicked manner, you look inside every possible room in the apartment, from the closets to the restroom, Jin being nowhere to be found. It isn’t until you do a second search of the kitchen that you notice that there was a note on the floor (most likely accidentally falling to the floor earlier).

Eyebrows furrowing when you read the note, you immediately grab your keys, shock and anger acting as your driving force.

“Right when I left, it began to rain heavy... It’s weird … I remember driving with such a rage that night I was sure I was driving recklessly… but for some reason, as ironic as it was, there was an artist playing on the radio that must’ve kept me at bay, Mariah Carey singing Without You …”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The door opens.

“Ah Y/N,” Mrs. Kim greets you, her apron from either cooking or baking still on, “I feel like I haven’t seen you in such a long time,” she chuckles, hugging you in the process. Despite your current dilemma, you feign a smile, not wanting to be disrespectful even if you were in a horrible mood. “Is Seokjin with you?” she genuinely asks, and this causes your expression to be one of shock.

He wasn’t here? Then where the hell was he?

“O-oh no,” you stutter, partially due to the freezing weather, “I thought he was here...” you say, and his mother’s face immediately becomes one of concern.

“No...” she hesitantly says, clearly confused, “Not that I know of,” she furrows her brows, “Oh honey, you’re soaking, come in, come in,” she insists, “maybe we can try calling his job using the house phone,” she begins to ramble, but you stop yourself before completely entering, a sudden thought crossing your mind.

“A-a-actually it’s fine,” you say, “I think I know where he is.”  

She tilts her head in confusion, “Are you sure? The rain is only getting heavier, and I’m sure neither Seokjin or your parents would want you driving in these conditions,” she says, noting the dull look in your eyes. You appreciated her concern, for you knew she loved you in her own special way, always imagining that you’d one day be her future daughter in law.

It was only expected really, you’d been in Jin’s life for almost 7 years now, both she and your mom always glancing at your ring finger whenever you’d visit, itching to see it decorated by a piece of jewelry. 

If only Ms. Kim knew that that dream was slowly slipping away from your grasp at this current moment …

“Yes I’m sure Mrs. Kim,” you finally respond, “Don’t worry, I’ll drive safe,” you try to say as lightheartedly as possible.

Hesitantly, she nods, allowing you to leave.

“When Mrs. Kim had offered me to come inside, something had hit me out of nowhere and I remembered that it was raining. Pouring in fact. And my mind suddenly went back to the days when we were 17, remembering how he’d knock on my door with a bag of takeout after coming back from the one place you could always find him at on a rainy day… the diner. ”

Water is dripping from all over your body when you enter the diner, from your hair to your clothes, you were drenched in mother nature’s tears. The only thing that wasn’t completely soaking wet was the note in your hand, the one you slammed on the booth’s table he sat at once you spotted him.

He looks up at you with a pained expression on his face, “Everything I do is for you, and this is for the best. Don’t come looking for me, for I’ll be long gone by the next morning’s sunrise. I’m sorry. Yours forever, Jin,” you read the note out loud to him, a mixture of anger and hurt found in your voice.

He remains silent, watching as your fingers trembled in anger, “What?” you rhetorically ask, “Did you think I wasn’t going to come all the way down here to look for you, that I was just gonna accept this bullshit of a letter or whatever the fuck you wanna call it, and call it a day? Is that what you honestly thought?”

After several minutes of continuous silence, your voice rises in anger, “Don’t just look at me, say something!” you yell.

“Y/N,” he says, the volume in which you said it, catching the attention of the late night goers also at the diner, “you’re causing a scene.”

You take a seat across from him, planning on being as loud as you needed to be until you got some answers, “How could I not when my boyfriend of over 7 years decides to pack up his things and leave to God knows where while only leaving some sorry excuse of a note for me.” your voice shakes, “What the hell did you expect?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, genuinely meaning the two simple words, more than you could ever know. Did you think he wanted to leave you? That he wanted to toss away everything you two had built to the trash? That he wanted to hurt the person who meant the most to him in this world? Of course he didn’t. But he had to be the bad guy in this story. Not for him, but for you. Because he loved you so much, that’d he’d do anything to see you live the life you dreamt of.

“No,” you say, “I don’t believe this,” you fling the letter around in his face, “I need you to tell it to my face, then I’ll believe you,” tears begin to well up in your eyes. There was just no way. The Jin you knew would never do this to you, never in a million years.

“Y/N—” he sighs, but he knows you won’t relent until you hear it from him, “Y/N we can’t be together anymore,” he says, and the words echo in your mind as he continues, “After tonight we’ll be nothing more than strangers,” he says in such a monotone voice, if you didn’t know any better you’d think he was a heartless being.

What you didn’t know was that Jin wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. Every nerve in his body was begging him to break out in tears, but no matter how much he wanted to … he just couldn’t bring himself to break outwardly. Not right now at least. Because right now he needed to be unbreakable.

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” a single teardrop slowly rolls down your cheek, the agonizing ache you felt in your heart now growing because of his words, “Seokjin,” you whimper, “I-If this is because of what you were saying a couple of weeks ago,” forcibly you grab his hand from across the table, your lips quivering in fear of losing the person you loved the most, “then why can’t you see I don’t care? Because to me you’ll always be the tall, lanky, boy with an outdated mullet who first showed me around town 7 years ago with a camera pointed at my face. Because as long as we’re with each other, we’ll get through anything Seokjin …” you squeeze his hand tighter, “You’re my person Seokjin, mine, and mine only,” you try to smile, only causing more tears to spill out of your eyes as they crease. 

“Y/N…” just accept it, is what he wants to say because what he was about to say would change how you viewed him, it would make you question everything you ever knew about the person you loved, “I don’t know what else I can say or do for you to understand that I just don’t want to be with you anymore,” he feels the a knot forming in his throat, as if to tell him to stop immediately, that what he was saying would have irreversible consequences, “And I haven’t been for a while…” How disgusting he was.

“You’re—” your voice croaks, “You’re a liar—Seokjin please....” you cry.

He pulls his wallet out and sets the money for his meal down, getting up from his seat in the process, “I truly am sorry Y/N…” is all he can say, before giving you a final kiss on the forehead, his feet fighting against his will to turn around and apologize. To tell you that he was just being an idiot and beg for your forgiveness. But he couldn’t.

He wouldn’t.

And so pushing the door open, he took one final glance at you, knowing he’d left his heart with you.

[imnotusedtobeingloved]

KISS HIM OR KILL HIM

(PLEASE DON’T REPOST/REBLOG)

Warnings: heartbreak, betrayal.

Pairing: Zuko x f!Reader

Characters: Zuko, Katara, Aang, Toph, Sokka.

Requested: I guess?

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor the gif. Credit to the owners.

Summary: Part five of “destiny is a funny thing”.

previous part

A/N: Welcome to the next part!

Have fun reading!

The sound of the waves rang in your ears as you sat in Appa’s saddle, resting quietly. You’d guided him through the night so the boys could rest, until Aang took the reigns this morning. Since your departure you’d done nothing but fly and a glimpse to your left told you that Zuko was getting incredibly bored. “We’ve been riding for hours. I don’t know why, but I thought this thing would be a lot faster,” Appa growled from below, sending vibrations through your body. “Appa’s right, Zuko,” Aang said, turning his head towards him. “In our group, typically we start our missions with a more up-beat attitude,”

“I can’t believe this,” The prince whispered beside you, lying down shortly after. “Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it,” you heard the Avatar say, before you closed your eyes, trying to get a little bit of sleep before you’d arrive.

You woke up, just as the island came into view. You’d barely noticed Zuko snuggling his head against your tigh while you slept. Careful you pulled away, before he opened his eyes. You didn't feel anger anymore, every time you looked at him. But you also weren't ready for this type of closure yet. “Wake up!” You said, when you’d made it to the other side of the saddle, watching him blink sleepily. “We’re here!” You got down from the saddle, landing directly between the broken pieces of the old temples.

When everyone finally dismounted, you turned towards the buildings. “Whoa!” The three of you stood next to each other, staring in awe, before you slowly started walking. “Even though these buildings are ancient, there’s something eerily familiar about them,” You nodded. “I can tell the Fire Sages’ temples are somehow descended from these,” The air was warm. It was a serene and calm atmosphere. Almost too calm for your liking.

“Okay. We’ve learned something about architecture,” Aang said looking around curiously. “Hopefully, we’ll learn something about firebending too. The past can be a great teacher,”

snap!

Suddenly Aang triped, yelping, as the path in front of him went down, leaving spikes in it’s wake. You gasped and reached a hand out, trying to catch him, but your fingertips barely grazed his clothes. Your heart stopped for a second when he nearly fell onto the sharp edges, but he managed to blow a blast of air from his mouth, somersaulting to the other side. “Guys, I think the past is trying to kill me,” Zuko knelt down, taking a look at the trap. “I can’t believe it,” He muttered, picking up the tripwire to inspect it. “This booby trap must be centuries old and it still works,”

“There’s probably a lot more. Maybe this means we shouldn’t be here,” The Avatar mulled, gripping his glider tightly. Next to you Zuko took two steps back, running along the wall adjoining the path, before jumping down on the other side. You raise a brow, running straight for the other side. With a gust of wind from Aang, you managed to jump right to them, without getting hurt. “Where’s that up-beat attitude you were talkin’ about?” Zuko said, dusting off his shirt. He smiles as Aang turns back. “Besides, people don’t make traps unless they’ve got something worth protecting,” You huffed, walking along as you could feel his gaze on your back. “Sounds like you’ve got experience with that,”

As you walked on, the buildings around you started to look less and less like ruins. The father in, the more intact they were. Cravings decorated the wall and scluptures framed the doors. One caught your eye in particular. It was a carving of a person surrounded by two dragon, breathing fire. “Look, this seems promising,” Aang said, pointing towards their rigid bodies. “Though I’m not sure what this tells us about the original source of firebending,”

“They look pretty angry to me,” Zuko threw in. “I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors,” He turned towards the Avatar, before answering. “Well, they had a funny way of showing it,” The prince lowered his gaze for a moment, before he turned around and went.

“Zuko,” You said, making him stop in his tracks. “Something happened to the dragons in the last hundred years. Something you’re not telling us,” The fire bender closed his eyes for a moment, hesitating to answer, before opening them again. “My great-grandfather Sozin happened,” He started to explain how the dragon hunting started, as you crossed a bridge. How they became nothing but trophies. And how they became extinct. “The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born,” He said, palm touching one of the dragon statues. “By my uncle,” Aang tilted his head. “But I thought your uncle was ... I don’t know, good? “

“He had a complicated past,” Zuko spoke. “Family tradition, I guess. Let’s just move on,” He quickly marched on, which left you and Aang to catch up to him. Soon you arrived at a vertical column, a sunstone burried in it’s center, above a wall with two gates. The prince stopped in his tracks, as the Avatar rushed forward, pushing and pulling at the doors. “It’s locked up!” Zuko rubbed his head, looking around. “Wait,” He took a step backward, looking at the place he stood in a second before, where the light from the sunstone beamed on a circular craving.

”It’s a celestial calendar. Just like the Fire Sages have in their temples,” He looked back up at the gates. “I bet that sunstone opens the door, but only when sunlight hits at just the right angle,”

You confirmed it with a nod and agreed. “Yeah, On the solstice,” An experated sigh passed Aang’s lips. “Monkeyfeathers! The solstice again? We can’t wait here that long,” Zuko unsheathed one of his swords. “No, we can’t,” You raised a brow, crossing your arms. “What do you have in mind?”

“We might be able to speed time up,” He placed his sword on the ground in a particular angle, causing it to reflect the light. “Let’s see if we can outsmart the sunstone,” The reflection, being guided by Zuko, moved over the other sunstone on top of the gates.

“Nothing’s happening,” Aang said, watching quietly. “Come on ..,” The prince muttered, not giving up. Out of nowhere the ground started shaking, as the gates opened, only stopping when the inside was fully revealed.

The Avatar picked up his staff, walking up to the gates along with you. “You know, Zuko, I don’t care what everyone else says about you,” Aang nudged him with his elbow. “You’re pretty smart,” Zuko smiled at his compliment, until you snorted, and it fell realizing what he’d actually said.

Meanwhile the boy had already walked inside, looking around the dark room. He gasped at the big, angry looking statues. “Relax. They’re just statues,” Zuko said.

They were lined up in a circle, displaying different postures. ”It says this is something called the Dancing Dragon,” You read, and saw Aang imitate one of the poses out of the corner of your eye. A subtile ‘click’ sounded upon the corrent positioning of his foot, pressing a buttom. “Zuko, (Y/N), get over here! I want you to dance with me” The former pulled his hand back. “What?”

“Just do it,” The Avatar pulled the both of you with him, getting you into the right positions. Zuko groaned unwillingly. ”Let’s follow the steps of the statues,” You took the stance of the statue before you, moving along with the boys and similarily pushing the buttons on the ground. “Don’t you see? These aren’t dance moves. These statues are giving us a lesson,” You could hear Aang say from behind you, to which Zuko answered less enthousiastically. ”This better teach us some really good firebending,”

Upon performing the last move, something changed about the atmosphere. A part of the ground detracted, making a vertical column emerge, holding a yellow, egg-shaped sunstone. The air bender raised his hands in triumph. “Hurray!”

”Wait,” You interrupted his outburst. “What exactly is that?”

Zuko ran up to it, before you’d finished your scentense. “It’s some kind of mystical gemstone,” Aang raised his arms, as if reaching out to him. “Well, don’t touch it!” The prince, stopped to let the boy catch up with him. “Why not?”

“Did you already forget what happened out there with those spikes?” You reminded, as Aang turned to look around, warily, and added: “I’m just very suspicious of giant glowing gems sitting on pedestals,”

The fire bender ignored him, picking up the egg as Aang’s eyes twitched. “It feels almost alive,” He described, before attempting to put it back, but it was to late. The three of you screamed out in horror, as a geyser of viscous slime erupted from the pedestal and pushed Zuko toward the grates in the ceiling, sticking him there. “Zuko!” You screamed, looking up to him.

“Oh no, it’s another trap!” Aang shot a worried glance at the struggling prince, as more slime shot from the column, forcing you both to retreat.

“Ugh, I can’t pull free. It’s like some kind of glue,” Zuko’s voice sounded from above, unable to break free. “Ugh! You’re unbelievable!” You yelled as more substance burst out. Spirits... sometimes you really didn’t know wheter you wanted to kiss him or kill him. “(Y/N), watch out!” Aang grabbed you around the waist, jumped across the slime and took his staff on the other side of the room. You clung to his robe, gasping, as he climbed on a statues head, sending a gust of wind towards Zuko, trying to get him free. But it only managed to push him from his back to his front. “Aang!” His ears perk up at the panic in your voice, upon seeing the slime still rising drastically. Soon enough his staff got caught in the substance,with all attempts to pull it out failing. “Hold on to me!” He says, jumping up to the grates, as slime engulfs the room. You landed next to each other, both groaning as you struggled to get your hands free. “I can’t move! Zuko, do something” Aang grunts, squishing you between him and the prince. “Me? I can’t move either!” You hiss at his words. “You’re the one who got us into this mess in the first place!”

A groan left your mouth, as the slime presses the air out of your lung and then... ceased. “It stopped,” You tried to turn your head to look at him, but the slime wouldn’t let you, clinging to every part of your body. “Great observation, Aang,”

“At least we have air. Maybe if we stay calm, we can figure a way out of this,” The fire bender said, staring up into the sky.

But you didn’t. The three of you stayed glued to the grates, until the sun sunk and the darkness came. You closed your eyes and sighed. “You just had to pick up the glowing egg, didn’t you?”

”At least I made something happen, (Y/N)! If it were up to you, we’d never have made it past the courtyard,” You growled, opening your mouth to reprimand him, but Aang interrupted the air first. “Heeeelp” He yelled, mouth wide open.

“Who are you yelling to?” Zuko and you both screamed back at the same time, growing more agitated by the second. “Nobody’s lived here for centuries,” The prince added. “Well, what do you think we should do?”

Anything to get us out of here, you thought. You’d spend hours staring at the sky, and despite it’s beauty, it was getting dull.

“Think about our place in the universe‌?” You heard a sigh on your left at Zuko’s answer, just as a foot, slipped into a bound sandal stepped into view.

“

Who is down there?

”

tags: @zvkonation​ @viva-la-millennia​ @randomness501​ @drheinzd​ @kaylove12​ @duh-dobrik​ @yeetscreetiwannaeat​ @ ashnkamfeun    @hailkyoshi​ @shortmexicangirl​ @animexholic​ @sorrythatspussynal​

[feminaexlux]

Chartreux

This is from Lukanette February 2020 (which feels like years ago at this point, doesn't it?). I wanted to repost it as a whole story because I went back and re-read some of my old stuff that I posted separately and I'd like to share it again :)

Enjoy! AO3 chapter link

⁂

Note

Plagg floated in front of Adrien. "Kid, you're sick. How are you gonna be Chat Noir if you're delirious?"

"Ladybug needs me," Adrien groaned. Last time he checked his temperature it was around 39c. "She… she shouldn't handle the akuma on her own!"

"She'll be fine," Plagg sighed. "Get some rest! Take a nap, you'll feel better after."

Adrien frowned. "No, I need to help her. Plagg, claws ou-!" He coughed. It was a hoarse, lung-bruising cough. "Oww."

"Eww, gross," Plagg complained. "Humans are so disgusting."

"Ladybug needs backup…" Adrien sighed. "If she gets caught it's game over, Plagg. Hawkmoth wins and everyone loses!"

"She's got plenty of other helpers, Adrien! You gotta relax."

"No, it's dangerous because Hawkmoth knows who they are! She needs Chat Noir."

"Ugh, fiiiine. Leave it to me, again, to save the day," Plagg griped.

Adrien smiled. "I knew you'd come around. Plagg, claws-!" Plagg threw a pillow at Adrien and knocked him backward into his bed. Adrien immediately passed out.

"Knocked over by a feather. You sure woulda been useful to Ladybug like that." Plagg huffed and floated over to Adrien's hand, gingerly pulling off the Miraculous. "I gotta find Ladybug's other boyfriend," the little kwami sighed.

⁂

Luka Couffaine was watching the livestream of the latest akuma through his phone. For some reason Ladybug was fighting the twin gorgons by herself and Chat Noir was nowhere to be seen, which worried everyone. Hopefully Chat Noir was alright… it wasn't like him to let Ladybug handle everything by herself.

Suddenly a wide silver ring dropped into his lap. Luka's immediate impulse was to look up and find who dropped it, but he wasn't able to see anyone or anything that might have possibly done it. There was a voice in his head that told him to put it on, but he wasn't going to start wearing someone else's prized just put it on you blockhead

What?

for gouda's sake just put the darn ring on kid

Okay. The ring was talking to him. Luka reluctantly put it on. Plagg appeared before him. "Finally. I'm Plagg, kwami of Destruction, you're gonna be using me today to help Ladybug. Your power is Cataclysm and after you use it you only got 5 minutes to wrap it up. Once you guys have won hand me over to Ladybug and it'll alllll be done and I can finally get a nap. You got it?"

Luka breathed out the breath he hadn't known he held in. "You're Chat's kwami. That's why he's not dealing with the akuma right now."

"Smart kid, you've already figured it out. You get to be Chat Noir today. But maybe you should call yourself something else. How about Chartreux? Transformation phrase is Claws Out, detransformation is Claws In. Got it? Let's go already."

⁂

Ladybug had already used her Lucky Charm and… she wasn't able to figure out which of the two gorgons had the akumatized object in time. She kept having to dodge the petrification beams from two akumas (though she was sure one was a sentimonster clone), and her Lucky Charm had been a guitar pick! She had no idea what to do with it. Actually, scratch that, she knew Tikki or the Lucky Charm wanted her to reach out to Viperion, but… that was dangerous. Hawkmoth knew Luka was Viperion, so she'd try her best without his help right now. But where the heck was that cat?! "Chaaaat, I really could use your help right now!" She yelled out to no one in particular.

A dark figure landed nearby. "Sorry, Ladybug," said a familiar voice that was not Chat Noir's. "Chat's out of commission today, but… I'm his substitute." A tall figure in Chat's outfit - no, it was kind of… spikier? and dark gray? - spoke to Ladybug, spinning the baton to create a shield to block the petrification beams. Oh no. What happened? "I'm… Chartreux."

"Ummmm, hi," Ladybug said. "Well, if you're on my side then I'm glad to have you." She looked him over more closely when she had a chance. Taller, black fluffy hair with green tips instead of all blond, and he had black earrings? Earrings? Oh no. She knew his voice sounded familiar. Oh no. She'd know those lips and that jawline from anywhere since she spent so long staring at them as Marinette. Oh no.

"I got some explanation of things, so… I'll try my best."

Ladybug had to make a mental note that Chat!Luka was going to be very, very distracting.

Teddy Bear

Ladybug sighed heavily as her earrings kept beeping. She gave Chartreux a rundown of everything she saw with Madusa (times two, ugh) and what she was attacking (seemed like mostly other girls? Yikes). Ladybug gave her thoughts on how she might have been a jilted girl(friend) with Valentine's Day coming around the corner and Chartreux gave a lopsided smirk.

Dang it stop doing that Luka, she thought, staring at his lips again. She shook her head to focus. "Chat… I mean Chartreux, I'm so sorry but I have to recharge. I really hate to leave you alone like this but…"

"It's alright, Ladybug. I understand. I'll try to distract them and lead them away from civilians."

She put a hand on his arm and squeezed. For encouragement. "Good plan, thank you. I'll be back as soon as I can. Alright, bug out!"

⁂

Marinette detransformed behind a building and watched Chat!Luka leap away surprisingly gracefully from the building they had just been on top of. She was fascinated at how… fluid everything looked with him. He was kind of a natural at strategically using his baton as an impromptu high-bar to swing himself between spaces and levels while keeping buildings between him and the Madusas for cover.

"MARINETTE!" Tikki yelled, apparently not for the first time. "Marinette?"

"Oh! Oh gosh, Tikki! I'm sorry."

"We have to figure out which one is the sentimonster first. I think we need to separate them and find out where the amok is."

"Alright, good idea, Tikki! Let me see if I can find a safe place." Marinette ran toward the end of the alleyway and ducked her head out to take a quick scan and nearly got hit by a beam. "Whoa!!!"

Unfortunately, it appeared that while Chat!Luka was able to get the attention of one of the Madusas and lead her away, the other one kept circling back to the apparent epicenter of the akumatization. That gave Marinette an idea. She was looking around for cover when she felt an arm around her waist and yelped as she was pulled sideways.

"Marinette, what are you doing here?!" Chartreux yelled, stumbling a little but recovering when she turned to face him and threw her arms around him reflexively.

"Ch-Chat?! Wait, what?!" While Chat!Luka was making an abrupt quarter turn, Marinette got further pressed into him as he made a braking maneuver against a wall and then launched them into an adjoining alleyway. It happened so fast she got slightly dizzy. "Whoa," she moaned.

"Marinette?! Sorry, I'm much faster than I thought I'd be," Chartreux said apologetically.

"It's okay, L–CHAT–I mean! Wh-who are you?"

Chartreux snickered a little. "Just a friend," he winked. "Let's get you somewhere safe."

That was what Marinette had been trying to do… She noticed something in the corner of her eye and turned her head, spotting the wax museum. "Um! Can you drop me off there?" She pointed her arm and directed his line of sight. Chat!Luka slowed down and pulled her in tight against him, weaving around the two streams of the petrifying lasers from both Madusas when they spotted the hero running across the street.

⁂

Adrien woke up a bit less headachey than when he went to sleep, and he groaned sitting up on his bed. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. There was something… different about things, but he shrugged and assumed it felt off because he was sick. He sighed and got to his couch, turning on the television. He was hardly paying attention until he heard Nadja Chamack talking about Chat Noir rescuing a civilian and how Ladybug was missing.

He blinked his bleary eyes. "Plagg?" There wasn't a response. "PLAGG?!" He was suddenly wide awake and stood up a bit too quickly, getting lightheaded and dizzy. He fell back to his couch and looked at a close-up shot of "Chat Noir" and the civilian. That "Chat Noir" was… taller? And That "Chat Noir" was holding Adrien's favorite civilian Marinette Dupain-Cheng up against himself (pretty intimately, Adrien thought irritably) while heading away from the akumas. Maybe Adrien was hallucinating. Yeah, that was it, this was all just a bad fever dream.

The Real Chat Noir needed to go help Ladybug right away.

Adrien stumbled back to his bed in his exhausted state and pulled off the covers off of a lump on his bed, assuming he'd find the kwami settled in like the lazy cat he was. Instead Adrien found a teddy bear with a heart pillow, inscribed with a "Feel Better Soon ❤️".

Letters

If the Madusas were turning people into stone, then running through the wax museum where the "people" there were already immobile seemed to be a good plan. That had been the thought process running through Marinette's mind before she realized that she and Chartreux needed to evacuate the real people inside. Luckily Chartreux was already on that as soon as they opened the doors, directing people to go down to the subway, goodness bless that boy.

Marinette helped him as much as she could while she kept trying to lose him in the evacuating crowd to duck out and transform back into Ladybug. Of course of all the people the black cat Miraculous could have gone to, it went to Luka Couffaine, who ten times out of ten could find Marinette in the chaos. Marinette had counted.

"Chat-um-whatever, could you let me go? Don't I need to go hide?!" Marinette yelled at Chartreux, who had unabashedly let his tail wrap around her ankle to keep tabs on her.

"I know you're brave, Marinette, but you don't hide, you keep throwing yourself into danger as soon as I turn my back so I'm going to personally drop you off at home. Good idea on using the wax museum, though."

"But I can get Ladybug!" Marinette groaned.

Chartreux's ears twitched with irritation as he glared at her. "Ladybug's going to get here on her own, you don't need to-" Marinette saw one ear rotate backward and Chartreux ran, pulling Marinette along with him after taking her hand. The twin gorgons burst into the museum and started using their beams on the wax figures. They were temporarily confused when no one turned into stone.

Once they got their bearings, the twin gorgons ran in the same direction they saw Chartreux and Marinette run. The hero and civilian pair had hidden behind a relatively large dupe of Horrificator and were able to sneak past the Madusas into a staff locker room. "Well, I think I can hide here, at least," Marinette sighed.

"Can't say it's too comfortable, but it's better than nothing," Chartreux reluctantly agreed, opening a large locker for Marinette. "Sorry. I guess I should have taken you home first." Both Marinette and Chartreux heard one of the Madusas walk closer and try to open the door. Marinette made a split second decision and pulled Chartreux in the locker with her and closed it behind them.

The Madusa broke down the door and prowled in, scanning the room. She sniffed, annoyed at finding nothing of value, and left. When Chartreux heard the gorgon's footsteps fade away he burst out of the locker, red-faced and stammering out a hasty "S-sorry!"

He was about a full head taller than she was, so when they crammed into the locker he ended up occupying way more of her personal space than either of them expected. He pressed himself into the furthest corner away from her but his head still ended up on her shoulder and his arm braced against her and her legs in between his. He kept thinking how he was getting kind of hungry because she smelled like freshly baked bread and warm apple pie and man was he ever getting distracted by the fact that Marinette Dupain-Cheng had pulled him in by the collar and now her hands were in his hair because they had nowhere else to go?

He stayed hidden with Marinette for several long seconds after the Madusa had left, ostensibly to make sure the akuma/sentimonster was far enough away, but maybe some part of him just kinda liked being held by Marinette.

"I'm sorry! I just pulled you in i-i-it was my fault so, so sorry," Marinette apologized back, also pretty embarrassed but fighting back a smirk at finding Chat!Luka so flustered. "I'll s-stay here and be out of your way, promise!"

Chartreux blew out a breath, composing himself, and nodded. "Stay safe. I mean it, Marinette, no heroics. That's my job."

She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Good luck," she giggled, closing the locker. Chartreux went red again, slightly taken aback, but then he chuckled to himself and turned to leave.

"Marinette, you're teasing the poor boy," Tikki giggled.

"I think we're both enjoying it," Marinette giggled back. "Are you ready, Tikki?" The little kwami nodded. "Alright, Spots On!"

Ladybug stepped out of the locker and called her Lucky Charm. She got a pack of fridge magnet alphabet letters? What was she going to do with that?

Composition

It was actually a pretty straightforward plan. Chartreux and Ladybug ran in opposite directions and the twin gorgons split up to chase the both of them. The heroes lead them into the same room at opposite ends, Ladybug tied them up together with her yoyo, Chartreux Cataclysm'd the floor and the Madusas got caught hanging upside down. The magnets caught the Madusa's dislodged necklace and pen before they fell into the molten hot wax.

Amok and akuma were dealt with, the akuma victim reassured, and the Miraculous Ladybugs deployed. The heroes bumped fists and called out "Bien Joué!"

Ladybug's earrings beeped and Chartreux stopped her from running off. "Wait! Plagg said I needed to give you the ring."

"Plagg said what?!"

Chartreux raised an eyebrow. "I'm supposed to give you Chat Noir's ring back."

"I… I-I don't know who Chat Noir is, actually," Ladybug laughed uneasily. "I'm not sure who to give it back to! How did you get the ring?"

"Really?" Both of Luka's eyebrows rose. "It… just dropped into my lap. What should I do?"

Ladybug's earrings beeped again. "Umm. I-I guess keep it? For now? I'll ask my kwami what I should do. Anyway, thank you for your help! I gotta run!"

⁂

Marinette yelped as Chartreux opened the locker she was hiding in. "Wow," he laughed. "You actually stayed safe."

"I-is it over?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah. I wanted to make sure you were alright." Chartreux extended a hand and helped Marinette get out of the locker and onto her feet. "I also said I was going to personally drop you off at home."

"You did!" Marinette giggled. "That would be great!"

⁂

Chartreux landed softly on Marinette's balcony with her in a bridal carry.

"You definitely know who I am because I definitely didn't tell you where my house is, and I still don't have your name," Marinette laughed.

Chartreux hummed. "I don't know if I'll be coming back as a hero so I don't think it matters if you know my name. I promise I am a friend though." He let Marinette down and she kissed him on the cheek. "Careful, you don't know if Alya's nearby taking pictures and you don't want to give the boy you like the wrong idea."

Marinette blinked. "The boy I like?"

"Adri-" "Luka?" Chat!Luka and Marinette said respectively, at the same time.

Chartreux was taken aback and flushed. "I think I'm giving him the right idea," Marinette giggled. "Your ring is beeping, by the way."

"Oh. Really? I mean. Right. Thanks. I'm… gonna go." He turned away awkwardly, still flushed.

"Chartreux?" Chat!Luka spun back in surprise. Marinette went up on her toes and kissed him. "Thanks for helping out today. You did a great job."

⁂

Chartreux detransformed in a quiet alleyway and Luka made his way home in a daze. Luka barely heard Plagg complain the lack of camembert and about how the Guardian should know who Chat Noir was and how the kwami apparently needed to do things himself and to haul the ring back across all of Paris and how much of a pain it was.

Luka got back onto the houseboat and went to his room and sat on his bed. Plagg had noticed that the boy was more or less unresponsive and sighed, deciding to hide in Luka's jacket pocket. Luka finally shook his head to get his bearings and looked around him, pulling out a blank sheet of music staff paper.

He was pretty sure Marinette knew he was Chartreux. He was pretty sure Marinette just let him know she was Ladybug.

He had some brand new music to compose.

Noir & Gris

"I hear that you're a big fan of Chat Gris," Adrien smirked as he leaned into his right hand, silver ring glinting off the sunlight that streamed into their classroom. "You and the Chat Noir from last week had a moment it seems!" He gave Marinette a sly wink.

"A-Adrien!" Marinette squeaked, turning red. "Shhh!!!" Marinette had already had to tamp down all the rumors around her and "Chat Gris" as they called him. Alya had been nearby and she did take pictures and of course one of the pictures was of Marinette when she kissed Chat!Luka. (How did that girl even get that angle?!) Alya thankfully had only shared it with Marinette… and then the rest of the girls, after Marinette had been too embarrassed to deny anything about it.

"I think you may be a cat person after all, Marinette," Adrien laughed.

"How did you find out?!" Marinette stage-whispered. "Alya promised not to show anyone else!"

"It wasn't Alya, I promise. I had my very own informant. But interesting detail, you have a picture?"

"I'm sure not showing you!" Marinette huffed.

"That's alright!" Adrien laughed. "Well, since you seemed to be so familiar with Chat Gris and Chat Noir, I was wondering what you thought of Gris versus Noir?" Adrien had leaned in further, intensely focused on Marinette.

Marinette blinked at him. "Uh… they were both… good."

"Really? You didn't miss anything about Chat Noir?"

"Well, I mean, both Chats were very… nice. They saved me from the akumas. I guess Chat Noir is… um. More of a jokester?"

"I'm hearing Chat Noir is more fun," Adrien smiled. "But go on."

"You have some weird selective hearing there," Marinette said. "Anyway I mean, I don't really have anything else to say?"

"Aww, too bad. I'm jealous, Marinette. You got to hang out with two different versions of the same hero!" And kissed both, but she wasn't going to mention that.

"Getting caught up in the akuma attacks is not something I'd call ‘hanging out', Adrien." Marinette rolled her eyes. "But they were cool."

"Do you think you'd wanna see Chat Gris again? Instead of Chat Noir?" Adrien asked, way softer than he spoke before.

"Hmm, I like Chat Noir. I think Chat Noir is great at being Chat Noir. Ladybug and Paris would miss him terribly if he wasn't going to show up anymore. I liked Gris and he helped everyone out really well, but I think Chat Noir is who Paris loves."

Adrien blushed. "Well, it's nice of you to say that. Chat Noir seems like a great guy, whoever he is under the mask."

Marinette smiled. "I think so too."

[ubemango]

sunlit affair (m)

note: I don’t want to wait for Hobi’s bday to repost this hehe so early bday sex for the nice Aquarius man w a beautiful nose and sick dance moves!!!!! 🥰

PAIRING. hoseok/reader GENRE. romance, domestic au RATED. M WORD COUNT. 2.6k WARNINGS. riding, creampie SUMMARY. Twenty-five is a good look on Hoseok. 

Your alarm is set to go off at 9:05 AM. 

The ringer is low because Hoseok stumbled into bed with a fatigue that told you he didn’t want to be bothered unless it was the inevitable stream of sunlight that always somehow snuck onto your pillows. It’s an uncanny awakening—you wake up at 8:59, and to the premature strike of light right in your eyes like a premonition, though you always knew what today was.

He’s snoring. Project had gone well, boss is happy. The only words he’d gotten to you other than his good night, please don’t wake me up at midnight I’m so tired. Then he’d knocked out, but you didn’t mind. He deserved it.

Twenty-five is a good look on Hoseok. Not that he looks any older than he has, but the gentle maturing of his face comes in the form of the deepens wrinkles in his eyes, the lines in his forehead. Permanent grooves that only mean he’s getting happier and it makes you happier, too. 

The urge to kiss his cheek is strong. You shimmy out of bed as quietly as possible before you give into it: breakfast won’t make itself, and he’ll be awake soon enough.

You opt for scrambled eggs because oil would be too loud. The coffee brews as you arrange the plate in what you hope is an appetizing meal with the sausages Hoseok likes from the co-op, and little slices of strawberries in another bowl—organic, courtesy of his mother dropping by the other day in complaint of your fridge’s lack of hope for anything healthy other than the occasional splurge on asparagus. We’ve been more broke is an odd thing to contend with, but Hoseok has seen how sad you’ve gotten from all your loose corn and tuna meals for god knows how long. 

(You take extra care in stirring the sugar in his coffee because now you’re sentimental over the goddamn food in your fridge.)

Hoseok is as new to the world as a baby out the womb, eyes blinking too much because he woke up on the wrong side of the pillow. The sun fighting the sun itself. He smiles when he sees you.

“Happy birthday to you…”

And you sing for him, tray of goodies in your hands as you waddle closer and he sits up to help you place it on his lap. He accepts it with a pout of his lips and a press to yours.

“Happy birthday Hobi,” you say when you break apart, and Hoseok twitches before he remembers there are fragilities on his thighs. He settles with a whine that asks for one more kiss. You give it to him. “I love you.”

“Thank you baby,” he says. He cocks his head in gesture for you to sit next to him. He’s still warm from dreaming. “Smells good.”

“I worked hard. But you worked harder last night.”

“Ugh. Jimin was on my ass and IT had to fix some bug on the computer.” Hoseok jabs sadly at a sausage. “But it’s done. Let’s—not talk about work.”

“Okay. What’s it like being an old man?”

Hoseok grumbles through a mouthful of eggs. “My joints aren’t what they used to be.”

“Sad,” you say. “You’re falling apart.”’

“Hm. This is really good babe. And—no, for real? When I went to the gym the other night?” Hoseok stares at you with eyes that hold a thousand stories. “Could hear my bones cracking.”

“Ew.”

“Click clack.”

“Okay,” you snort. “You’re old. Now finish your coffee. More plans.”

You take the emptied plate when Hoseok tries to slurp on his mug. “Hot.” He makes a broken face.

“It’s coffee.”

He waves you off. Embarrassed but you’ll give it to him. “Thank you. I love you.”

“Mhm. Brush your teeth, I don’t wanna kiss your stinky coffee breath.”

The morning progresses as you wash the dishes. Hoseok finally sheds the grogginess of last night when you hear the faucet turn on from the washroom, and you take the time to contemplate your day. Dinner later is out of the question, a reservation under Yoongi’s name at whatever o’clock because he keeps forgetting to tell you the time. Maybe a quick movie? Because it’s been a while since you had time in with Hoseok. And the bed calls to you anyway. The last plate is put away with much more resolve than you had before.

You barely catch Hoseok coming out when you pin him to the wall with soap-softened hands. His face is damp, hair swept back with a careless hand. Mouth-watering because Hoseok was never not at his peak-handsome. Yours for the morning.

“Woah, mama.” You press a kiss to his neck. You feel his hands around your waist. “Plans, huh.”

“Yeah,” you say. Mouth preoccupied with the taste of him and it warms you from your core. “Can I take care of you?”

“Can I say no?”

“If you want to.”

“I don’t want to,” he says.

And you lead him back to bed; a false promise of rest but hopefully he’ll be blissed out soon enough. Hoseok looks awfully cocky with his satisfied grin, lying down with an ease that says he’ll be at your mercy time-willing. You crawl over his body and settle with the press of your thighs against his hips. His long fingers trace a path on your sides (a shiver he notices with a silent chuckle) when you bend down to push love into his mouth. Spearmint.

“I’ll ride you,” you decide then and there. Hoseok licks into you with more eagerness he seems to want to let on because his eyes are wide. He clicks his tongue.

“You spoil me.”

“Start your morning off right.”

“D-Damn straight,” he murmurs, breath lost when you trail your kisses down his sternum, over a wrinkly shirt he can’t be bothered to take off because he’s so relaxed, melting into the sheets like warm honey. You lift up the fabric to lick at his abs, and you feel him shiver. “Tickles.”

“Sorry.” Hoseok laughs. Then you slide his boxers down and envelope his hard dick with the soft suction of your heat. 

“Fuuuuuck—”

You'd say something about him being too provocative but the dick in your mouth keeps you pliant. You don’t want to ruin the moment with any snark, though—and as much as you want to see him fall apart, the slow build-up of his pleasure is a drama on its own. You see the glow of pleasure in Hoseok as his hands rake through your hair, a silent command for your attention and you give it. You give it to him tenfold when your lips reach the base of his shaft.

“Ugh that--feels...” Your tongue presses against the underside of him and his head teeters. “Agh—!”

You swallow before you take a breath, hand pumping him slowly to keep the tip of his dick near your lips because you can’t get enough. Always. “Feel good?”

“Yeah,” he asserts. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

You huff out a laugh. “Don’t thank me yet, bubba. Need you wrapped around my finger.”

And you get back to it; a rough grab for his pleasure if it means you get to see Hoseok twitch under you like he’s here for your mouth only. The slick of your spit on his skin is a wet mess and the sound is even more dirty. A noise you could only appreciate behind closed doors. (Yours isn’t, but you’re wet anyway.) 

Hoseok sighs with the pleasure of a catered man. “Fuck that’s—“ he rises onto his elbow with a pant— “I’ll cum soon.”

“Do you wanth to?” Garbled because you won’t let up.

“No—just—come up here.”

He kisses you when you do. His love is rough, the insistence on your lips nearly pushing you back but his hands hold your neck and you sigh, tongue twisting behind your teeth and your knees are caught as you take off your underwear but you can’t pull away. An attraction neither of you can deny when you pull apart to breathe but Hoseok chases you for more.

“Mmph—” he sucks on your top lip and you groan— “Hoseok—wait.”

“What?” He nips down your neck and settles on a spot that has your mind blanking. Suckling. Forgetting this is about him and he seems to be none the wiser. 

“Nothing, I just. Let me breathe for a second.”

He settles his forehead against yours. “Have I taken your breath away, baby?”

“Eugh.”

“You like it.”

“I do,” you confirm. “But you’re gonna kill me.”

Hoseok pecks your nose. “I’m a force to be reckoned with.”

“Says the wise guy who tried to chug on coffee and died.”

“You’re supposed to be taking care of me,” he whines. “Don’t make fun.”

“Lie down. And don’t cum until I say so.”

You take his shirt off. And you’re about to remove yours, but Hoseok is squinting and the open blinds are absolutely obliterating his eyes with the rising sun. You get up with a huff to pull them closed. Not without Hoseok calling out for you because now he’s cold, but at least he can sorta see now.

“Now we make love in the dark,” you say.

“And they say chivalry is dead.”

“I hate it when we fuck and it’s bright.”

“So romantic,” Hoseok coos sarcastically. “Now take off your shirt.”

The air is still. No coffee brewing, no static of the TV when it’s on. The outside world is divided from your tryst by your chipped blinds and the flimsy mesh of the window—quiet, even when the occasional car slips into a sinkhole. Hoseok is under you, dark hair splayed along the softness of his pillow and he grins, hands grabbing yours as you settle comfortably on his lap. A scenario you couldn’t have conjured up any other way but somehow, in this simple abode, you’re flushed with this heavy feeling of love. Love for this man and your home and he’s probably so tired but he gives into you. All the time.

“Stop thinking so hard,” he says. 

You laugh. “What am I thinking about?”

“I donno. But you look pensive.”

“Ooh.” You line his dick up with your core. Sinking down like you have the whole day to contemplate all the good ridges of his length. “I’ll tell you when I’m done fucking your brains out.”

Hoseok snorts. “You’ll nag me when your thighs start to hurt.”

“And what about it?”

“I like an honest partner,” he says. 

“So you don’t think I can fuck your brains out.”

“Not without my help.”

“What’d I say before? Don’t cum until I say so.” You lift up a little, settling your bum on his thighs and Hoseok groans. You start like that: a rise of your knees, pussy squeezed and you know he feels it from the way his breath is stunted. You feel it all. And he looks good in this lighting, the barely-there glow of the light like no one’s meant to see him except you. You defile him in your presence alone, and Hoseok takes it.

He bucks up when you slam down hard. “Shit—ugh you feel so good.”

You might say something but you’re scared you’ll falter. You settle for a moan when the tip of his cock hits deeper, nails digging into the back of his hands and he squeezes back. Eyes rolling back when you grind into it, but now you can’t hold back. “Oh fuck.”

Your thighs don’t hurt yet, but you settle your hands back onto his thighs and swirl your hips the way you know he likes to see. And he erupts. “Fuck babe—you’re so hot. Oh—squeeze me—like that. Shiiiit.” Hoseok grabs your ass and you catch yourself on his chest, cuss on the tip of your tongue but he beats you with even more dirty words. “Fuck yourself with my dick.”

You gasp when he pushes into you again. “I’m s-supposed to be taking care of you.”

“Rescinded. I just want you to cum.”

Well. That’s okay too. And you ride him in earnest, dragging your pussy up and down and the ache in your muscles is starting, but Hoseok’s panting under you and it’s all you can do not to stop. His eyes are on your tits, soft bounce for soft bounce—one hand snaking its way up from the grip on your butt to pinch a hard nipple and you squeak. 

“Hoseok—”

“That good?”

“Yes—!”

His other thumb is on your clit. Feet moving up behind you and you feel his knees digging into your back every time you come down, and now he’s thrusting up into you too, like he wants you to lose it all over him. “Can you cum like this?”

“Fuck—yeah. Y-Yeah.”

“Tell me when.”

It’s soon. And you can’t say anything because nothing registers in your head other than the feeling of Hoseok fucking into you like he’s possessed, brows furrowed, concentration honed in on you and him and your sweat and love, so much love. It’s the way he knows how to hit it there—

“Oh my god.”

Closer. And your hands are on his shoulders because now you’re tired, and Hoseok takes it in stride when he grabs your hips to keep you where he wants. Unsteady and steady all at the same time when your body tries to keep up, bearing down when his hips cant up, but the grind to your clit is too much. You know he feels it.

“There?”

“Mhm. Y-Yeah—!”

“Tell me when. Tell me when.” He’s desperate. You feel it too, the way his rhythm picks up and in your wont of clenching when you’re close he groans even more. “Fuck baby I can’t last—”

And you know it. You’re so wet the slide is of his cock is embarrassingly quick but it touches all your sweetest parts. The part in you that’s close is almost there—almost—

“There—oh Hoseok—I’m—cumwithmecumwithme—”

“Fuck babe—”

You collapse, Hoseok bringing his arms around you, breaths lost in your hair as he pumps himself through orgasm and you’re helpless—caught in the whirlwind of your own as you moan into his neck and it’s so hot, the sound of his cum fucked into you. Deep inside and you groan at how sticky you feel all over. Hoseok presses a kiss to your head.

“Congrats, you just fucked the shit out of me,” he says.

You laugh. “And my reward?”

“My semen.”

“Attractive.”

He pulls out. A mess you’ll clean up later because for now you seek refuge in Hoseok’s arms. “But now you’re not thinking so hard.”

“You’re right.” It’s light, the feeling. Like everything’s gonna be fine. A good orgasm does that to you, but now you’re sentimental all over again. “I think I’m ovulating.”

“Oh.”

“Besides the point. But I—don’t know. I just got really emotional.”

“Like you do.”

“Like I do,” you hiss because he always makes fun of you for being more feels-y than you like to let on. “I’m glad I get to do life with you, I guess.”

Hoseok stares at you. Gaze soft and unyielding, like he knows exactly what you’re going through. “You’ll make me cry.”

You scrunch your nose. “Do it, pussy.”

“I love you,” he says through a half-laugh. “So goddamn much.”

And Hoseok smothers you with a thousand kisses, and you feel his cum on your stomach as he rolls over you but you don’t resent him at all. Only if it means you’re getting his love.  That’s all that matters this morning.

[halfgclden]

THE PITS(TOP)

It was at a rest stop on the way out of Billings, Montana, that they got the news. It was before that, actually, but Jade was good about not checking her notifications on the road. 

“Fuck!” Jade yelled and slammed the car door to have something to direct her anger towards, and she resisted the urge to kick the tire afterwards. “Do they even know how long that took us to put together? We can just repost it. What are they gonna do?” 

It had taken less than twelve hours for their major story on a minor celebrity to get posted, cause a big stir, and get taken down. Of course Jade knew this was going to be a likely outcome, but it didn’t mean that she was any less upset about it.

Just as riled up as Jade but stiff as hell from the drive, Joel slowly got out of the car and cracked his back. Then his neck. Then his knuckles. "I can't fucking believe it. This is censorship! Fuck. We have it on a flash drive. They can't do anything. What are they gonna do? Take it down again? They can't do anything." Thunder rumbled as Joel kicked a bottle cap on the ground, a scowl on his typically cheerful face. 

It was bullshit. 

They (mostly Jade) had spent hours researching their facts and putting the most recent episode together. It had been so good. One of their best, for sure. And yet— poof. In an instant, gone. 

Joel watched his twin pace angrily around the parking lot for a moment, then looked up at the gray sky. "What! The! Fuck!" He yelled, taking big breaths in between each word. A family getting into their car a few feet away turned to look at him, disapproval on their face as the mother covered her child's ears. Joel shrugged and turned back to look at Jade, "We knew it could happen but...that was handled in an ungodly amount of time, right? Fuckin' ridiculous."

Jade handled the gas pump with much more force than necessary, then moved so that she could slump against the car. She knew they had backups for this exact reason, but the censorship was expected and unwelcome. Why must people exist with wool over their eyes? Yes, maybe they had insider knowledge on this topic, but that didn't mean that their presentation was any less real and important for the public. 

As if to match their mood, the sky opened up above the twins and rain began to pour. 

"Ungodly my ass," Jade grumbled, and, on cue, there was a crack as the puddle forming on the ground near them shimmered and projected an image of a brightly-dressed bespeckled woman with a stern look on her face. 

"You two..." The woman sighed and shook her head as she pushed back a tangle of curls and piled it all into a messy bun atop her head. "I swear, whenever anything happens, I need only look to you or your siblings." She looked as disheveled as a goddess could, which meant that she still had more grace than an etiquette instructor. "Care to explain what that little stunt was?"

Nothing surprised Joel anymore. Not the speed at which their episode had been taken down. Not the rain that was spattering onto the pavement around them. And amazingly, not the woman who appeared out of thin air before them. "Should have known," he mumbled, loud enough for only Jade to hear. 

Fixing a smile on his face, Joel waved innocently to the colorful apparition. "Hi Auntie." He did his best to look like he hadn't done a thing , cutting a look to Jade while the goddess sighed. "What stunt? We were just doing a little research. No harm in that, right?"

The burning look that the goddess shot Joel suddenly made her feel a lot more menacing than her boho tie dye style. "A little research," she pronounced each word with special emphasis, as if she was holding back. "You exposed a place of safety and sanctity. You two have gone too far with these antics." 

Jade snorted. "Exposed," she repeated with a roll of her eyes. "Every monster and myth on earth already knows where that camp is. So why are you pressed about mortals finding out about y'all? Is it some way to keep them quelled?" She was tempted to start recording on her phone, and it looked as though the rainbow goddess was reciting a mantra under her breath. 

"You two... if this is a cry for attention, you will soon learn that you may be asking for too much. Attention is almost never a good thing to have on you, not with the forces you're playing with." 

Jade gave another exaggerated eye roll at the prophetic tone Iris was taking, then stuck her tongue out at Joel.

Somehow, Joel managed to keep the easy smile on his face, despite the heat from Iris' glare. He leaned back, resting against the trunk of the car. It wasn't every day that you got chewed out by a goddess but...it also wasn't the first time. Joel wondered how long the gods would find them amusing. He swallowed hard, not letting his thoughts go any further down that path. 

As if reading his twin's mind, Joel carefully slid his phone out of his pocket, intending to record the situation they'd found themselves in. The goddess launched into what felt like a pre-prepared speech, talking about the grandiose forces at hand and Joel tried to hide his smile. He caught the look Jade was giving and made a face in return. 

Looking back to Iris, he shrugged. "It's not a cry for attention. We're hardly the first to make a big deal about the strange stuff going on out there. I mean, come on, Auntie— did you even listen to it before you took it down? Long Island was home to some buckwild government experiments back in the day. How do you explain that?" He cut his hand through the air. "There are plenty of people like us that live in the public eye. Shouldn't y'alls sanctuary hold up against anything these 'forces' might throw at it?"

Jade gave a small quirk of her eyebrow towards her brother, but otherwise kept her expression neutral. "We're just saying that maybe it's a time where people start to open their eyes. People who don't want to see past the mist, they won't bother, but why not make it easier for those who could have a foot in both worlds? Mortals have always been a part of myth." Not to mention the fact that the gods may or may not have their fingers in some more suspicious business. Why were they located at the Empire State Building? What kind of power did they have over the political structure of the United States? Did Zeus make money off the Iraq war? 

Iris seemed to be less impressed with each sentence that came from the twins, and her patience was running thin. She looked between both of them before she flicked her hand at Joel's phone, instantly draining the battery. Before he could give her any grief about it, she held up the same hand. "You're lucky I didn't crumble that to dust, dear boy. You two are playing with fire. That is not a warning, that is a guarantee. I suggest you tuck your tails between your legs and not pull any stunts like that again. Apologize and thank those above you for vouching for you."

Chiming in, Joel added, "Yeah! The mythical and mortal worlds have been entwined for centuries! Seems only fair that people who want to know should be able to see what's really around them. And...without mortals, the gods wouldn't have so many heroes to do their bidding." It was a risky point to make, but it was true. Every myth he'd ever read proved it. Still, Joel got the feeling that the gods would not appreciate being called out like that. 

He meant to say more but in that moment, the jig was up. Iris had spotted his not-so-stealthy recording and Joel grimaced. He stood up a little straighter as she delivered her warning, pocketing his now-dead phone. Hopefully the little snippet he'd recorded would still he there when it powered up again but that seemed unlikely. Being told to apologize and give thanks didn't sit right with Joel, so he stood quietly, looking away from Iris to meet Jade's eyes. A raise of his eyebrows silently communicated 'what do you think?' and, at the same time, 'can you believe this is our life right now?'

The rain was picking up, as was the wind, and though Iris seemed entirely unbothered by it, Jade was wondering if she was going to have to change her clothes before driving to a motel for the evening. 

"Do you know what the gods bidding is?" Iris asked Joel, though it was clear that she didn't care for it to be answered. "Of course you don't. Or if you do, you clearly show that you do not understand. The gods are there to keep order. To keep it so that fate is handled in a way that does the least amount of harm. Do you know what happens if you ignore a prophecy, or try to deny it? You've read enough myth to know, haven't you? You can not deny prophecy, it will always come true." 

Jade's cheeks burned despite the cold rain on them, but she held her tongue, and shot Joel a response. 'Ugh, yeah, what else would it be' followed by 'we should probably leave it for now, though.’ She raked her teeth over her lower lip, realizing that Iris was expecting a reply, and maybe the apology she'd already mentioned. "Of course," her tone betrayed her, coming out as a grumble, and she cleared her throat. "I thought this was like Area 51. People even showed up there and nothing happened. Doubt anything is going to come out of this." She kept an eye on Iris, watching for any sort of recognition of the Area 51 incident, since Jade was positive the gods had something under wraps there. Then, she reluctantly added, in a much smoother tone, "We're sorry that it got so big. I mean, subscribers are probably gonna be great, if you let us keep them so we can afford dinner..." 

Iris rolled her eyes, but her stony expression seemed to be cracking, as though she'd delivered the message she was supposed to already. Even the rain seemed to be dying down. 

"—And thank you, of course, for vouching for us," Jade added, figuring that it was what the goddess had hinted at earlier and was now waiting for.

Rain dribbled down his glasses and Joel wished he'd thought of making tiny windshield wipers for them. There was always next time. He slowly took them off his face, using the hem of his shirt to dry them off before looking back at Iris. It would be so easy to continue to argue, to direct his frustration into something instead of holding it inside. But a goddess was a bad target to pick. So Joel kept his mouth shut and nodded along to her rhetoric, a thin smile on his face.

Letting Jade do the talking was much easier than bringing up all the counterarguments his brain had already conjured up. She was the more convincing of them anyway. Joel couldn't fathom how Iris could claim the gods were keeping order when you learned that the children of the gods had basically been the root of most major conflicts in history in Being a Demigod 101. And...Zeus was pretty much responsible for single-handedly being the worst husband in the world. He doubted Hera (or all the mortals he'd knocked up) would agree that he was keeping order. It was probably bad form to bring that up though. Faking a cough to hide his laugh at Jade's mention of Area 51 , Joel looked away. It was definitely bad form to laugh before a clearly pissed-off goddess. But there was something going on at Area 51. Everyone knew that. Idly, he wondered if @_kllledbycain was a Kakashi impersonator full-time. Maybe that was the link to the Area 51 raid they needed! He'd have to remember to tell Jade...as soon as they were out of danger of being smited? Smote? Incinerated. 

It was probably his turn to chime in. To really sell it. He arranged his expression into a sheepish sort of smile. "Seriously, the subscribers would...save us. But, uh, yeah. We didn't think it would take off like that, didn't think anything of it really. It was just supposed to be this silly thing we were working on. We're sorry if we put anyone at risk. And— yeah, what Jade said. Thank you, genuinely."

Jade glanced at Joel, wearing an expression that said 'what, are you going to get down and actually kiss her ass next time?' before glancing away, not wanting to snicker at her brother. 

Iris, however, seemed to be at least somewhat appeased by the twins responses, and while the downpour had turned to slightly more than a drizzle, she wore an expression like unto a tired caretaker. Was she ready for the next problem? Probably not, and so she would send Hermes to deal with that one instead. "I never said I was the one to vouch for you." 

Jade wanted to point out that she didn't deny it either, but she didn't want to make the little smile on Iris's face disappear. "Well, thanks for coming to deliver the message personally, then. It's always good to see you, auntie." Though it'd be better if it didn't come with an unneeded shower. Jade dipped her head to sniff herself. Okay, after hours of driving, maybe the shower wasn't entirely unnecessary. 

Iris hummed in response as the rain died down almost entirely, and her form flickered before the two demigods. "Now, if you even think about putting that back up, I won't be the god associated with weather that will be coming to speak to you." She sighed and put a hand up to her ear. "Okay, now I need to deal with a translation error in Prague. Don't make any trouble, good luck on your trip, and kids, please, get into a change of clothes, before you get sick." 

Jade opened her mouth to make a point, but the goddess was already gone, and so she just looked to Joel like a wet cat, jaw set as her hair dripped. "Such bullshit. I need to remember to wear a wetsuit next time we put up an episode.

Instinctively feeling the judgy look Jade was giving him, Joel turned his head in time to get her subliminal message and give her a generous eye roll in return. Maybe he'd laid it on a bit thick, so what? At least the rain was stopping now. That and Iris looked significantly less bothered and more like herself— which meant that instead of being 100% done with the twins, she was only about 70% done with them. 

"Tell Hermes we say thanks for the coffee," Joel grinned, giving Iris a little wave as he moved to dig a something out of the trunk of the car. He tried not to laugh when she gave them another warning, knowing full well that he and Jade were thinking the same thing. It was time for another episode. "See you later, Auntie," he gave the goddess a small wave as she shimmered out of view then, looked over at Jade. She really did look like a wet cat. He probably didn’t look much better. In fact, the two of them probably looked a little ridiculous. They seemed to be standing in the only area of the whole rest stop that had been rained on. Go figure. 

"Here," he held a towel out to Jade. "I'll add 'wetsuits' to our Patreon wishlist. Should I put 'umbrella' on there too?"

“Shut up,” Jade grumbled, clearly not in the mood for Joel’s ability to remain his goofy self in any situation. She took the towel and stepped around the car so that she could open the back seat and dig through clothes that she could change into for the rest of the ride. "There's an umbrella somewhere in here. Probably ten, honestly, and they're probably all piled under Toothless's cage." She shot their bearded dragon a look, as though he had been hoarding all the umbrellas on purpose, and he gave her a lazy wink in return. "He just winked, Joel! No shit! He basically told us that he ate them all." 

Once fully changed, she wrapped her wet clothes up in the towel and tossed it in the back (something to deal with later), then walked around the car fully so that she could climb into the passenger's side. She drew her legs up so that she could rest them on the dashboard, and was only on her phone for a short time before she groaned and slumped down in the seat, contorting in a very uncomfortable-looking position. 

"Ugh! Ughhhh. They got it taken off Patreon too." She huffed, looking at Joel with a forlorn expression. "Whatever, I don't even give a shit. Like this won't make it blow up even more." She wasn't sure she really believed her words, and her tone betrayed this. "Whatever," she repeated, rolling her eyes as she sniffled and turned her head to look out at the rain dramatically. It would have helped if it was actually still raining. "I'm naming the next episode number 33, I don't even care."

"Alright, alright," he nodded, understanding how his twin was feeling. While Jade busied herself looking for dry clothes, Joel set to work cleaning out the front seat before the next leg of their drive. It was no surprise that he quickly filled a plastic bag with trash— most of which was empty chip and candy bags. "He did what?" Joel glanced over the backseat, making eye contact with Toothless and raised an eyebrow. The reptile stared back at him, unblinking. "Oh, for sure. Tooth's a machine. He could eat a whole umbrella factory. Is that a thing?" 

Finally, the cab of the car was clean, save for the two coffee cups in the center console. Joel picked up Jade's cup, shook it to make sure it was empty, and added it to the bag of trash. Grabbing his own iced mocha, he took a sip, the straw making an empty slurping sound in the drained cup. This too he added to the bag. Returning to the car after disposing of their trash, a gleam in the console caught his eye. In the same moment, Jade clambered into the passenger seat. 

"They— seriously? Ugh." Joel quickly swapped out his shirt for a dry hoodie and got into the passenger seat. "God how do you drive like this?" He muttered before adjusting the chair and mirrors for his height. Wishing he could say something to lift Jade's spirits, a small frown worked its way onto his face. He knew his twin well enough to know that she'd recover in the morning when they saw how many new subscribers and views this debacle was sure to bring, but in the meantime— "Can I offer you a drachma in this trying time?" Joel had fished the handful of gleaming gold coins from the cupholder while Jade vented. Now, he held one out to Jade, the grin on his face almost as bright as the coin resting in his palm. "Looks like someone didn't want our episode to be taken down. Found it under the coffee."

Jade peeked away from the window back at her brother, looking up at him from where she was burrowing herself in her sweatshirt. She took the coin and pressed it to her chest, shifting in the seat to push herself up a bit, as the world seemed a bit less like it was going to end. She exhaled a breath and gave a small smile to Joel. "Should've left fries instead. Can't eat this." 

Nevertheless, her spirits were no doubt lifted, and she raised her eyebrows at her twin. "Ready to start work on episode 33 tomorrow?"

"Episode 33 tomorrow," Joel agreed, as he put the car in reverse. "Fries now."

[callie-the-snarky-geek-blog]

RvB16 Episode 2 Review: Incendiary Incidents

(Old Blog Repost)

Last time, not a lot happened other than going out for food, Donut unlocking his true potential as a contortionist, and alien Norse Gods are a thing that exist. Nothing that unusual for this show. We got the setup, so what’ll they do with it now as the pizza quest continues? Lets find out!

Overview

To the shock of no one, Grif crashed the ship. He rushes everyone through the insults and sidenote to Kai’s… so does she actually have regular contact with their mom? Makes me really wonder about where Grif stands with his family. Anyways, good news is the pizza place isn’t far off! They just have to go through some ominous woods! Grif however opts to go through the less than ominous woods which would take longer, but isn’t… well, ominous. This gets Simmons attention. Enough that, as they make their way through, he pulls Grif aside to find out what his deal is. My shipping heart is happy to see Simmons noticing that something’s not right with his not-boyfriend and getting to the bottom of it… please tell me I didn’t accidentally write an innuendo,

So you knwo that ‘new science’ Grif mentioned last episode? Well here’s that new science: laziness… sort of! So when stuck on the moon (I THINK he called it Iris? So… after Michael and Lindsay’s daughter/Geoff’s goddaughter? AWW!), Grif found a book that Jax left behind about story structure. He found out about ‘incendiary incidents’, which are incidents that jumpstart a plot essentially I tried to look it up to see if that’s an actual term… and all I got was a bunch of fire safety websites. But I’ll take Joe’s word for it and say it’s an actual term. So Grif cutting off Jensen before, crashing the ship deliberately as it turns out due to a message from Locus, and avoiding the ominous woods is to avoid getting into an incident that would jumpstart a plot, and therefore lead them into another adventure. IDK if this is clever fourth wall breaking but… wow. WOW. Even Simmons gets chocked up about how much effort Grif put into doing nothing. It’s counterproductive when you think about it, but still!

Unfortunately for Grif, he IS in a webshow with plot structure and the powers to be aren’t going to let them get out of it that easy. Caboose discovered a glowing lake. And a figure emerges form it. Now the episode summary describes a thought to be deceased team member returning. Oh my Gd, that… that’s crazy! It could anyone! But why?! Tex? Flowers? Shelia? Church? Alpha Church? Yellow Church?! The guy who got killed during one of those 360 videos?! The possibilities are endless! It could be anyone! Who knows what kind of shocking twist it cou.. it’s Donut. Who we all knew was alive. Yeah… well I’ll give them this, it had me hyped for the episode.

So Donut… Jesus Christ. No, seriously, Donut is now Jesus. He walked ont he water for crying out loud! Donut says that he had been taken through time and that they have to go into the past to stop a great danger… and absolutely no one buys it. Now to be fair, Simmons makes a good point later. They already went through a time travel story and it turns out it was just a simulation. So them being skeptical about this happening again, especially since only Caboose saw the body horror last episode and I imagine that he forgot by now, is pretty understandable. But yeah no one buys it and Grif feels relieved about avoiding the story bomb… until Simmons points out that refusing the call is an actual story trope. See Grif? There’s no escaping!

So the Reds and Blues make it to ton and… yeah, it’s been totaled. After talking to Jeremy Dooley… I-I mean a cop… no, I’m 90% sure that was Jeremy. Anyways! After that, Donut tries to convince them of time travel again, and this time has actual proof. He has this new gun which he uses to open a portal to a few days earlier. How did he get this? Well to put it simply, after he got hit by Loco’s machine he got sent back in time and his body got wrecked, but God found him and fixed him. IDK if he means the Christian God or one of these alien Gods, but they’ve picked the Reds and Blues to be his time traveling warriors and has sent back four more guns for them to use to go back in time with. The portals can also only fit two grown humans at once.

Unfortunately, things go downhill quickly. So you guys remember the four armed guy from the trailer? Well the sky goes dark and he appears… oh sorry, typed that wrong. I mean that SHE appears. Yes everyone, we have a legit female villain at last!! I couldn’t get her name, but part of it sounded like Callie… which is my name… UGH… anyways! Yeah, she starts causing chaos and destruction. Donut uses a bubble shield, telling the others to use the portal guns and get away. They comply with everyone pairing off: Cabbose and Lopez, Tucker and Sister, Grif and Doc, and Sarge and Simmons. Donut remains behind, though I assume that he’ll follow them later. Huggins, who has been following the group, chases after Grif and Doc by going through their portal. We follow Sarge and Simmons as they land in… what looks like ancient Egypt. Could be wrong, but we’ll have to wait and find out cause that’s the end of the episode!

Review

Well all of that escalated quickly!

So… gonna talk about Grif first! Cause yes, he’s getting a character arc! I mean I guess it could have ended here since his plan failed, but since Huggins went after him and Doc we could get something on that front. Anyways, so I was right and Grif is actively trying to keep them out of getting into adventures. To the point that he’s putting effort into maintaining laziness… that’s the kind of logic I expect form this show. It wasn’t how I expected it, but I expected it. It’s also good to see that he does still have some hangups from the moon. He seems a lot more… what’s the word? High-strung than normal? He’s also still talking in pretty large bursts compared to normal. I don’t know if that’s just me reading into it too much, but it seems like Joe is trying to show that Grif still has hangups from his self-exile. Which hey, if it means more Grif focus, I am not complaining!

The episode is more about plot than the last one. Last week was the setup, and now the payoff is here. So first, Donut. He was written SO WELL. One of the issues last season was that Donut was pretty much a background prop and they even forgot to put him in scenes. Joe must have realized that this was a problem cause he’s already fixing it BIG TIME. Donut’s had shit happen man! He comes off as slightly mroe serious and competent in a sense that he actually knows the gravity of the situation. But he still feels and acts like Donut, which is good! It shows that he CAN be useful and competent, but without sacrificing his personality. Heck he only spouted out one innuendo and it was just to prove that it was really him. I am digging this new direction!

So turns out that the four armed guy si a terrifying alien goddess of death… I dig it! So someone pointed out that this character is similar to Hela from Thor: Ragnarok. SO it REALLY seems like Joe is basing the villain off Norse mythology… or just the Marvel Cinematic Universe verisons of them. Either way is fine. So I’m not sure if… Kali-Ra I think is her name? Anyways it doesn’t seem like she’s with the same group as Huggins cause I imagine that she would have reacted. I also don’t think that this chick is the main villain since DOnut referred to a ‘devil man’, but still she is terrifying and badass and I LOVE it. We finally got a female main villain guys! Joe is the hero we’ve waited for! Yay! Also Sarge asking he rot marry him, Of course he’d want to marry a violent death goddess… I’ll totes ship this!

Alright, time travel! SO ever since Joe mentioned it in that post a while ago, I’ve… been skeptical. Time travel in pretty much every show tends to be confusing and create tons of plot holes. It even happened in RvB before with Season 3 before Burnie retconned it as a simulation. Didn’t save my head from imploding, but still that’s a fair excuse. Hopefully Joe has a VERY good idea on what he’s doing with this, but I’ve been warming up to the idea since then. It’ll be fun to see the guys in different time periods at least! Form how it looks, Sarge and Simmons may go tomb raiding it it really is Ancient Egypt. I mean Sarge vs mummies, there is no way that cannot be epic!

So the gang is being split up, and the pairs are interesting! Sarge and Simmons sin’t that much of a surprise and tbf it’s been a long time since they had some one-on-one time. Simmons has also grown out of being a kissass quite a bit, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. Caboose and Lopez are together… so I’ just going to assume that in every animated RT production, Burnie is just meant to be stuck with/get annoyed with Joel in one way or another. Cause that is the impression I’m getting. Tucker and Sister are together, so I imagine flirting… okay I’m good with that! Hopefully Sister gets some focus to herself that isn’t just Tucker trying to hit on her, but still I’m good with this!

And finally Grif and Doc… that one is gonna be interesting. Grif in particular seems very grudgey against Doc for the betrayal and we just saw Doc save Grif form getting crushed by tackling him into the portal. Which props to Doc for that BTW. Still with that and since they’re 100 on an adventure now, Grif’s not gonna be a happy camper. Also if O’Malley gets active and starts going into Grif’s past issues like in S13, I… imagine that’ll be rough for our favorite orange boy. Also Huggins chased after them, so I assume that they’ll be discovering her soon. Which if she pals up with them…t hat could be really cute tbh! I am all for Grif and Doc shenanigans with a a ball of light! But yeah, this could lead to a LOT of things and I’m very interested in seeing how this plays out.

Final Thoughts

It was great! Admittedly this is a lot mroe bizarre than RvB has been in a while but it’s also RvB where Grif still being alive after getting hit by a tank and having Simmons organs thrown into him improperly isn’t ever questioned. Alien Norse Gods? Ia m all for it! Donut being Jesus? Awesome! More setup for Grf having a character arc? HELL YEAH MAN. It was a well done episode, progressing the plot without wasting any time, gives us a glimpse at how dangerous our villains our, gives us a badass female villain, and sets up everything for the episodes ot come. There’s definitely a feeling of epicness compared to last time, so it looks lie Joe is taking the armature gloves off and giving us one Hell of a story. I am very excited to see where it leads!

[dimensiontripperhibiki]

A Name In The Wind (17/?)

REPOSTED BECAUSE THERE WAS AN ISSUE WITH THE LAST POST. 

Here’s the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy! Warning(s): Angst, medical triggers, character death.

Chika was feeling a little bit more optimistic as she made her was down the hallway at school. She was more hopeful now that she had an actual plan to try to save Honoka and had people willing to help her. The hard part was yet to come, she knew, but things were looking brighter. She noticed the door to the classroom ahead open but she didn’t think anything of it until a hand reached out and grabbed her arm, quickly yanking her inside. She yelped automatically just before she caught sight of You, closing the door. “You-chan…?” “I’m screwed.” You said in a panic. “I’m totally totally screwed, Chika-chan!” “Eh?!” Chika shook her head in confusion. “Wait...what’s going on? Did something happen? Did you have a fight with Riko-chan?” “No! Wait...why would I fight with Riko-chan?” You frowned at the question.

“I don’t know, I just figured…” Chika’s eyes widened suddenly in realization. “Did Kanan-chan say something to you? I didn’t plan to tell her you watched us have sex, it just came out. She didn’t seem angry at the time.” “You TOLD HER?!” You exclaimed in shock. “Ugh. It’s not that, okay?!” Chika frowned. “Then what is it?” “I made out with someone.” You frantically wrung her hands in front of her as she looked past Chika, nervous of Dia finding her. “A-And I gave her a hickey! I didn’t think and I’m SO DEAD!” “You-chan, I don’t under-” “RUBY!” “Oh!” Chika suddenly realized what was going on. “Shit. Dia-san...You’re so dead, You-chan.” “I know, HIDE ME!” You pleaded with Chika. She grasped Chika’s hands tightly. “Dia-san is going to notice and she’s going to lose it! You have to help me, Chika-chan!” “Oh my gawd…” You’s eyed widened at the sound of Mari’s voice. She wasn’t in the room though, she was in the next it seemed. “Mari-san, what are…?” Dia’s voice followed, taut with confusion. “IS THAT A HICKEY?!” You stayed quiet, waiting for Ruby’s reply. “Yes.” Ruby sounded blunt but embarrassed and You winced to herself. “Ruby-chan is so mature, zura!” Hanamaru piped up enthusiastically. “YOHANE IS JEALOUS! SHE’S SUPPOSED TO BE THE FALLEN ANGEL!” “Hide, You-chan.” Chika whispered, grasping You’s hand. She led her quickly over to the closet and pushed her inside. Just as she stepped away from it the door burst open and Dia stepped inside with Mari, Hanamaru, Ruby and Yoshiko behind her. “D-Dia-san!” “Is You-san in here?” Dia asked, looking around in search of You. “I thought I saw her come in earlier.” “Ah..no. I mean yes. She did come in.” Chika tried to casually lean against one of the desks. “But she left. It’s just me here now. Do you need her for something?” “I NEED TO…” Dia trailed off for a moment and gritted her teeth. “Talk to her. I just want to talk.” “Um...it doesn’t really seem like that.” Chika said with a nervous laugh. “But she’s not here. Maybe she’s on the roof? Or maybe she left already.” “Ruby, stop smirking and straighten your collar.” Mari chirped, noticing Dia looking at Ruby out of the corner of her eye. “Here, let me do it.” Dia breathed a sigh of relief as Mari straightened Ruby’s collar up, concealing the mark on her neck. She paused after, realizing it wasn’t very like Mari to go out of her way to do that. Usually she would just tease her. Chika was giving Mari a strange look too, confused by how responsible she was suddenly acting. “Um...yeah, as I was saying, You-chan isn’t here now. Can I help you with anything?” Dia growled under her breath. “No, you can’t. Wait...you can tell her that she shouldn’t be pursuing girls who are younger than her. Ruby is much too innocent.” “Uh...Ruby-chan is only a year…” Chika trailed off at the angry look on Dia’s face. Dia could be fairly scary at times. She put a desk between them before she continued. “Maybe if You-chan was Kanan-chan’s age I would tell her that but like I said before, maybe you should focus on keeping your sister’s hormones in check. You-chan has a hickey on her neck too. And one on her collar. I just didn’t want to tell her I saw them.” “RUBY!” Dia gasped, turning to her smug looking younger sister. Ruby suddenly didn’t look very smug. “H-Hanamaru-chan, class is starting, let’s go!” “DON’T LEAVE YOHANE BEHIND!” Yoshiko exclaimed as the two rushed from the room. She quickly followed them. Chika laughed nervously, realizing only Dia and Mari were left. “You’re not gonna kill me now that we’re alone, right?” Dia scoffed. “Tell You-san I’m looking for her.” With that she turned and walked from the room with Mari. The door closed and Chika breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly the closet door opened and You hurried across the room, throwing her arms around Chika. “Thank you!” You exclaimed gratefully. “You’re the best friend ever.” “Yeah, yeah.” Chika grumbled, rolling her eyes as You pulled back. “Maybe don’t leave hickeys where Dia-san can see them. Kanan-chan likes to leave them on my…” “Stop!” You held her hands up, effectively cutting Chika off. “I don’t need to hear that and I’m not d-doing it with Ruby-chan!” “You’re not? Oh...I guess that’s a good thing. Dia-san might actually kill you.” Chika thought, looking You over. “And then I guess Mari-chan would help her hide the body…” “HEY!” You exclaimed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Don’t tell me that! I’m freaking out enough already. What am I going to do?” Chika shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to talk to Dia-san eventually.” You groaned. “I was worried you would say that…”

-----

Honoka stared at the  computer screen, tears streaking their way down her cheeks. The organizers of Love Live wanted to send them to America so they could hold a third competition in Akiba Dome. But she wouldn’t be able to go. She would have to get her parents permission and with everything that was happening, she wasn’t sure they could give it. Hanayo was sympathetically rubbing her back, having been the one to show Honoka the invitation. She had chosen to do it quietly without telling the rest of Muse first. The door opening drew her attention to it and  Eli appeared in the doorway, the rest of Muse behind her. “Eli-senpai…” Concerned, Eli entered the room and made her way over to Honoka. Hanayo, who had sent out a quick text to Eli when Honoka hadn’t stopped crying, vacated her seat for the older girl, letting her sit down. Eli drew Honoka into her arms and looked up at Hanayo. “What happened?” “Muse received an invitation. Or a request, rather.” Hanayo pointed at the computer screen. Quickly the rest of Muse gathered around Honoka and Eli, leaning down to read what was on the screen. “America?” Kotori asked in disbelief, stunned by the news. “They want us to go.” “To raise publicity…” Nico read from the screen. Slowly, she straightened up and glanced toward Maki. “Can Honoka even go like…” She hesitated, looking at Honoka. “With her condition?” “I wouldn’t want to risk that if I was her doctor.” Maki said softly, staring sympathetically at Honoka. “Her parents would never say yes anyway. If she went she would need to use steroids if she was going to dance. And what if something happened and we needed a hospital? There’s a communication barrier, not to mention…” “I can speak English fluently. As well as French and Japanese.” Nozomi pointed out quietly. “We would be fine.” “You could help out with the steroids and stuff, right Maki-chan?” Kotori asked hopefully, grasping Maki’s hand. “I mean you could help her inject them if she can’t do it herself. Your dad could show you maybe.” “Maybe but her doctor might advise her not to fly.” Maki reasoned uncomfortable. “If she’s at risk for increased swelling in her brain.” “It’s worth a try though, isn’t it?” Umi asked quietly, her hand on Honoka’s shoulder. “You too, Umi?” Maki asked in surprise. She would have thought Umi would be completely against it “Fine. We can try. But if we do get to go you can’t abuse your medication, Honoka.” “I-I won’t!” Honoka sniffled, looking up from Eli’s shoulder. “I promise.” “I’ll give it to Eli and let her be in charge of it.” Maki said with a sigh. “You two will have to share a room together. With Nico.” “Huh?” Nico looked up sharply. “Why?” “No funny business.” Maki answered though she was staring right at Eli and Honoka. “I’m serious about that.” “Then you’re all going to be in different rooms. NOT with your girlfriends.” Nico cut in, crossing her arms in front of her. “Fine.” Maki grumbled. She couldn’t deny that, she supposed. It was fair. “I’ll room with uh…” “Kayo-chin is rooming with me, nya!” “I’ll room with you, Maki-chan.” Nozomi said softly. She smiled at the grateful look Maki shot her. “I guess we’re roomies, Umi-chan.” Kotori said with a small smile. Umi smiled back. “Yeah.” “So we really are going?” Honoka asked hopefully. Eli hugged Honoka gently. “Yes, we are. You want it so we’re going.” Maki cleared her throat. “With your parents permission. We’ll do everything we can to get it but I don’t want you to be disappointed if we can’t go. If we can’t, it’s for a good reason. Your health is more important than some stupid publicity stunt.” “They’ll let me go, I-I think.” Honoka said, looking up at Maki with a tearful smile. “Thank you, Maki-chan. You’re always taking care of me.” As Maki looked away, grumbling, Honoka continued softly. “It’s Yukiho I’m worried about. She’s going to be angry. And she’s going to worry when I’m away.” “I’ll ask my dad if Arisa can stay with her.” Eli said softly, stroking Honoka’s hair. “She’ll be able to keep her calm.” “Thank you.” Honoka said softly. Looking up, she addressed the others. “All of you. I want to do this with all of you. More than anything.” Together, the group huddled around Honoka and Eli and leaned down to hug them, a few tears being shed as they did.

----

Kotori shuffled into the kitchen, her eyes half-open still. As soon as she’d woken up she’d gotten out of bed, wanting to get things started as soon as possible. They would need to find Eli and explain everything to her. She paused, finding Maki in the kitchen, making coffee and what smelled like breakfast. Kotori briefly considered walking away but it was too late. Maki spotted her. “Um...I wanted to try cooking for you.” Kotori glanced over Maki’s shoulder. “You’re overcooking the omurice.” “Wha…?!” Maki turned around and quickly grabbed the handle of the pan, trying to keep a fire from forming. Kotori’s lips twitched upward. As much as she wanted to be furious with Maki, as much as she wanted to dislike her in that moment, she couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. She walked over to Maki, standing behind her and placed her hands on top of Maki’s, one hand on top of the hand clutching the pan and one hand on the hand holding the spatula. “You have to be gentle with the eggs.” She explained softly. “Hold the pan just barely to the heat and use the spatula to gently fold the egg over the vegetables and rice.” She helped Maki do so before letting go. Maki swallowed thickly. “W-What about the chopsticks?” “That’s for folding it the second time. Here, let me show you.” Kotori took the pan from Maki when her girlfriend offered it. Maki stepped to the side, watching closely as Kotori finished making the omurice. She waited until Kotori had set it on a plate before she spoke up. “I…” “You know how to use the ketchup, right?” Kotori asked, raising an eyebrow. “Ah, yeah...of course. I’m just not as artistic as you with the design,” Maki said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’ll love whatever you draw on it.” Kotori said in a whisper as she stared down at the plate. She heard a sniffle and looked up in time to see Maki trying to dash tears from her eyes. “Maki-chan.” “I just want to protect you.” Maki cried regretfully. “I’m not keeping things from you for any other reason. I just want you to be safe and happy. Y-You’re so much better at this than me. I don’t know why I keep failing at the most basic of things in this relationship. I just hate seeing you cry, upset, hurt and...I-I know you’re not fragile. I don’t think I would be stable if you weren’t beside me. You were the strongest, Kotori. It’s the same as with Umi, I don’t want you to see me weak.” “I want to see you weak.” Kotor murmured, shaking her head. “I want to see you not push your own feelings aside for the sake of mine. Come here, Maki-chan.” Maki stepped into the offered embrace, hugging Kotori tightly. “I started smoking a year ago.” She said bluntly. “I started doing it when I saw my grades slipping in senior year. The exams and cram school were killing me a-and you were busy with college and I just needed something to calm myself. Fuck, I just want to quit. I hate it.” Kotori was silent for a long moment before she spoke up. “Do you want me to help you?” “P-Please, just...I need you to keep me from being a workaholic.” “If you keep me from becoming an alcoholic.” Kotori said, half joking. She let go of Maki and picked up the omurice and the bottle of ketchup. “Let’s eat together, okay, Maki-chan?” “Okay.” Maki wiped the last of her tears away and crossed to the table where she sat down with Kotori. She watched as Kotori used the ketchup to draw a small bird and a cat with a heart between them. She smiled softly at the gesture. “I guess...if we get Honoka back this would never have happened. Our life now. Maybe I’ll never have started smoking.” “At least we’ll still be together.” Kotori reached over and took Maki’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. “Huh, and I thought I would have to keep that a secret.” Nozomi said softly from where she was watching in the hallway with Umi at her side. “Those two really are the most stable.” Umi said, tentatively leaning into Nozomi. Nozomi sighed a little. “Did you take your medicine?” “Yes. Did you?” “Yeah.” Nozomi said quietly. She blindly reached for Umi’s hand, grasping it after a moment. “Do you feel okay about this? We have to find Eli eventually. And she might have to speak to Chika after that.” Umi cringed at the thought. “She’s going to do something stupid. You know that.” “I guess it’s a good thing Kanan-san will be there.” Umi straightened up, her heart suddenly racing. “They’re going to fight. What did Maki tell you?” “That Eli is drunk off her ass when they talk.” Nozomi said softly. She squeezed Umi’s hand. “They’re not going to touch you, Umi-chan. Eli wouldn’t dare and as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think Kanan-san is like that.” “I won’t let her hit you either.” Umi said, her voice strong and defiant, taking Nozomi off guard. “She’ll have to go through me.” Nozomi smiled warmly at the comment. She didn’t doubt Umi. She would defend her even if she was panicking while doing it.

-----

“Are you feeling okay, Honoka-chan?” Kotori asked as Honoka took her seat next to her. They’d just gotten onto their plane, heading for New York and Honoka seemed a bit nervous. “You seem worried.” “I’m excited.” Honoka smiled back at Kotori. She was relieved her parents had agreed to the trip, albeit reluctantly. “But I’m a little worried about Nozomi-chan, having to sit next to Eli-senpai. They’re still mad at each other, I can tell.” “They’ll be fine.” Kotori said reassuringly. “Don’t worry about those two. Umi-chan will keep them in check. Nico-chan too.” Honoka didn’t look convinced but she needed anyway. There wasn’t much else they could do besides switch seats and while she wanted to sit next to Eli she wanted to sit next to Kotori too. “You should get some rest on the flight over.” Kotori suggested quietly. “I know you, you’ll want to look around as soon as we get there and I don’t want you to wear yourself out.” Honoka smirked. “You don’t have to act like my mother, Kotori-chan.” “I’m not your mother, I’m like...your older, more mature sister. I have to look out for you sometimes, don’t I?” Kotori asked expectantly. “Just like you look out for me and Umi-chan sometimes.” Honoka smiled softly at the comment. “Like sisters.” She murmured to herself, nodding her head. “I think of you that way too, Kotori-chan. You and Umi-chan.” Kotori winced at that, thinking of Umi’s old feelings for Honoka. At least she had moved on to someone better suited for her. She fell silent for a moment, thinking about that but so did Honoka. She seemed to be nervously biting her lip now. Kotori figured Honoka was thinking about when Kotori and Umi were the only two left out of the three childhood friends. She took Honoka’s hand, both for her friend’s comfort and for her own. Nozomi watched from a few seats away as Honoka rested her head on Kotori’s shoulder. She sighed. At least they weren’t as uncomfortable as she was. She looked back to Eli in time to see the blonde staring past her at Honoka and Kotori, a slight frown on her lips. “She’s fine. Kotori-chan is a good friend.” “I know…” Eli mumbled, sitting back in her seat properly. She knew Honoka was fine with Kotori but she wanted to be over there. “At least I’m not Nicocchi.” Nozomi joked, hoping to get a response from Eli. She didn’t. She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “So are you excited for the…?” “No.” Eli interrupted sharply. “I’d rather us not go for her sake, damn it.” Nozomi coughed awkwardly and looked up, catching Maki’s eyes. The redhead was sitting just a couple of seats away from her. “Help me.” She mouthed silently. She watched as Maki nudged the person next to her. A moment later, Umi stood up with her bag and made her way over. “Um...would you like to switch seats, Eli?” Eli looked up. “Who are you sitting with again?” “Maki.” “The seat’s yours.” Eli stood up and walked over to Maki, sitting down next to her with a heavy sigh. Nozomi felt a wave of relief wash over her as Umi sat down next to her. “Never leave me alone with her again.” “Nozomi.” “What? I can barely speak to her without her spitting fire at me. What am I meant to say?” Nozomi asked in frustration. “Let Maki calm her down. She can teach Eli how to use the injection through the trip too.” Umi reasoned, hoping to soothe Nozomi. She knew Eli not speaking to her girlfriend hurt her. “Can we watch a movie?” Nozomi wrapped her arms around Umi’s arm and pressed her face into her shoulder. “Sure.” Umi said with a gentle smile. “When we take off we can start watching together, okay?” Eli huffed in annoyance as she looked away from Umi and Nozomi. “Great. She gets to be with her girlfriend and I’m stuck here. Typical.” “Hey, my girl is with your girl.” Maki pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “We’re both watching them with envy. We just have to accept that they want to be together right now. Otherwise they would have already switched seats. They’re best friends, they need their own time.” “Why? Because they don’t have much?” Eli gritted her teeth, her hands balling into fists. “Fuck.” “Eli, you need to calm down.” Maki said softly as she watched Eli struggle with several emotions. “Saying things like that is only going to make you feel worse. Trust me. Here, let me just teach you how to inject the steroid.” “Eh? But we’re on a plane!” “I don’t have it with me, we’re going to watch a video on my laptop.” Maki said with a roll of her eyes. “It’ll…” She trailed off, briefly distracted by her phone. She checked her messages and blushed at Kotori’s request to meet her in the bathroom once they were allowed to unfasten their seatbelts. She looked back at her girlfriend, noticing a coy smile on her face, even with Honoka dozing off on her shoulder. “Maki, what are you looking at?” Eli shifted in her seat, struggling to see. “N-Nothing!” Maki said quickly, turning her attention to the space in front of her. “I’ll show you the steroid thing later, okay?” “Um...okay.”

------

It was during her lunch break that Kanan decided to go and look for Riko. She’d intended to speak to the second year for a while now but hadn’t gotten around to it, with everything that was happening with Honoka and Muse. She walked down the hallway to the music room, already catching the sound of the piano being played. She knew it was Riko. She didn’t know anyone else who could play that well. She paused in the doorway, looking through the small pane of glass to be sure. Indeed she found Riko sitting behind the piano, her hands moving over the keys. She was relieved she had managed to find Riko so fast. Truthfully the girl could have been anywhere in the school. She pushed the door open and entered the room and the music stopped immediately. “Kanan-chan.” Riko said in surprise. “Take it easy.” Kanan said, holding up her hands. “I just came to talk.” She waited for a nod from Riko before she made her way further into the room, pacing over to the piano. She ran her fingers lightly over the glossed surface. “I figured I would find you in here. You’ve been avoiding us a little.” “Have I?” Riko didn’t look or sound shocked but it was clear she was trying to. “That hasn’t been my intention. Maybe I’ve just been busy with homework or school or something.” “I’m not oblivious, I can tell.” Kanan said, raising an eyebrow. “W-What?” “You like her.” Riko felt like the ground had been pulled out from under her and for a moment she could only open and close her mouth. Finally she managed to form words. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Riko.” Kanan sighed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t play dumb.” “Fine.” Riko slumped down slightly, her hands falling to her sides instead of resting upon the piano. “Well I screwed up. I thought she was...crazy.” “Well that’s the worst thing to say to a distressed girl.” “NO!” Riko exclaimed, her eyes wide. Kanan jolted in surprise. “I-I didn’t say it out loud! But I...maybe hinted at it when she tried to tell me about whatever is going on with her.” “It’s true you know.” Kanan pointed out, her tone clipped with annoyance. “You should have believed her. She wanted your help. She even told me she wanted it over mine.” “O-Oh…” Riko worriedly bit her lip, looking down at her lap. Kanan stared at Riko long and hard. It was clear the pianist didn’t really understand the gravity of what she was telling her. “We’re dating now, the two of us. I don’t know if she told you that.” Riko smiled sadly. “She didn’t. I kind of figured it out myself though.” “You could have been in my position, you know.” Kanan frowned at Riko. She didn’t want to hurt her but she needed her to know what she had done. “If you’d just believed her. Or supported her.” “I had a feeling she might have felt the same way...I guess we misunderstood each other.” Riko took a deep breath and looked up at Kanan. “You’re the better option. You’re unconditional.” “I am.” Kanan said softly. Riko stared at Kanan pensively for a moment. “Is it true that you have experience? With more girls than Chika-chan?” Kanan nodded. “It doesn’t matter now though. She’s the only girl that makes me feel...happy. My heart beats faster when she smiles. It skips when she holds my hand,” “Sounds nice.” Riko said wistfully. Kanan straightened up a bit. “We’re friends too, Riko. So I don’t have to tell you not to go after Chika-chan. Do I?” Riko shook her head. “Good.” Kanan said softly, her stance slowly relaxing. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry if I ended up hurting you by dating Chika.But I couldn’t just ignore how I felt about her. I love her.” “I understand.” The simple answer had Kanan thinking that while Riko did understand, she didn’t especially want to. She cleared her throat. “Thank you. We can still be friends, right?” “Of course.” Riko said with a hurried nod. She looked a little worried at the question, something that reassured Kanan somewhat. “I need some fresh air.” Kanan watched as Riko stood from the piano bench. “Are you going to skip class?” “Maybe.” Riko answered quietly as she skirted around the piano. “Don’t follow my bad habits.” Kanan advised as Riko moved past her. Riko waved Kanan off as she left the room. She walked down the hallway, zoning out as she did so. She had thought that Chika had feelings for her but then Chika had told her she didn’t have feelings for anyone so she’d assumed that she’d been wrong. Riko remember with a twinge in her chest that Chika had been pressing her to see whether she was interested in anyone though. Maybe Riko had just scared her off by lying to her. Maybe Chika had thought she didn’t feel the same way. A part of her wanted to tell her now. Just so that Chika knew the truth. She collected her shoes and left the school at a jog, in a hurry to get away. She had about ten minutes left until the end of lunch so it was easy for her to slip away unnoticed. She would deal with her mom later if the school called her. She reached the beach, vaguely noticing a photoshoot of some kind happening a short distance away. It was only when she got closer and heard someone speak that she really started to pay attention. “Gimme a profile, Nico-chan!” Riko wiped briefly at the tears that suddenly clouded her vision. Her eyes widened as she looked closer at the photoshoot, noticing a girl with wavy black hair, under a sun hat. She was wearing heels and a stylish blue sundress. Riko stepped close, making a mental note to look for it online. “Always so mature, Nico-chan.” The photographer was saying as he snapped pictures of Nico. “The other models tend to smile but you always know when to keep a straight face. Now give me that fierce look!” Riko inched as close as she dared, noticing the loneliness in the model’s ruby red eyes. Her brow furrowed in confusion. She recognized her from somewhere. “Nico-chan.” She repeated back to herself thoughtfully. The only Nico she knew of was Yazawa Nico from Muse and it wasn’t as though she would be there. Deciding to wait, Riko stayed where she was. She had only been planning on walking anyway. “Okay, that’s enough.” A woman standing on the sidelines called out. “The wind is getting too strong. Plus, we have a fan.” Riko glanced over her shoulder, looking around to see if anyone else was there before she realized the two of them were talking about her. She blushed fiercely, realizing she had been caught staring. As she backed away, she noticed the figures begin to pack away. She caught the model staring at her and froze once more. Suddenly the model was walking toward her. Riko considered running but it seemed her feet were glued to the ground. “What are you doing here?” Nico asked when she reached Riko. “You’re not allowed within five feet of the shoot. Damn it, don’t tell me you were behind me.” Riko narrowed her eyes as she looked up at the girl. In heels Nico was around an inch taller than her. “I was further than five feet away from you.” She pointed out. It had been clear to her that she was around ten feet from the shoot. She wouldn’t have dared get as close as Nico had said she was. “And...does it look like I was behind you? This is a public beach. Maybe you should have put up some warnings?” “Oh god, you’re like her…” Nico groaned in exasperation. “Excuse me?” “Nothing, just...an old friend. Nevermind.” Riko watched as Nico turned to her team and said that she was taking ten. She almost wished she had stayed at school. This conversation was only making her feel worse. Nico turned back to Riko. “Know a good place to get something to eat around here?” “Huh?” “I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything since I got here.” Nico said slowly as if she was speaking to someone especially stupid. “So do you know a place?” Riko frowned. She didn’t like this girl’s attitude. “How old are you? Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” Nico twitched. “I’m twenty.” Riko blushed at her mistake. Nico smirked. “Playing hooky, huh? I’ve done that. Why don’t you come with me? It’ll be my treat.” “Go with you?” Riko echoed in surprised. She laughed in disbelief after. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just...you came over here and accused me of getting in the way of your photoshoot and now you want to take me out to lunch.” “Yes? A beautiful girl deserves something nice.” Nico shrugged her shoulders. “Besides, playing hooky usually means something is bothering you.” “And now you’re hitting on me.” Riko said, a little surprised. “Even though I’m clearly wearing a uniform so you obviously know I’m a student.” “Don’t flatter yourself, You just look upset. I’ve been in the situation at your age. I just thought you needed something to cheer you up.” Nico argued, shaking her head. “Besides you have to be like...a third year, right? You’ll probably be graduating soon so it’s not like it would be weird for me to hit on you.” Riko hesitated for a moment. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. So um...what kind of food do you want to eat? I don’t know if I’ll go with you but I can show you the way.” “I don’t mind.” Nico answered with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’ll leave it to you.” “Okay. Follow me then.” Riko hesitated for a moment before she led Nico along the beach, trying to figure out where to go as they walked. “There’s not much here. You’re probably used to Tokyo or somewhere, right? You look like a city girl.” “In a way. I’ve lived in France for the past couple of years. Before that I lived in Tokyo…” Nico seemed to trail off in thought. She came to her senses after a moment though, clearing her throat. “Uh...I’m just visiting for a while.” “Are you staying here? In a hotel or something?” Riko asked curiously as they stepped off the beach, onto more solid ground. She noticed for the first time that Nico had taken her shoes off and had been holding them loosely in her hands. She paused for a moment to put them back on. “At an inn.” Nico clarified as they started walking again. “I have some business in Tokyo tomorrow but I’ll still be staying here.” “Business? Like another photoshoot?” Nico gave a soft laugh. “You’re pretty curious, huh? No, not another photoshoot. I’m visiting a friend.” Riko watched Nico closely, noticing her smile fade and her expression sadden. “I’m sorry to pry.” “It’s fine.” Nico smiled again but to Riko it looked forced this time. “I like your curiosity.” Riko smiled back, hesitantly. “You’re...daring. You seem like you would be fun to be around.” “Oh so now you’re figuring that out?” Nico laughed genuinely and Riko felt her cheeks warm at the sound. Nico reached out and ruffled Riko’s hair. “Sorry about earlier. I tend to be grumpy when I’m hungry and I wanted to get out of there.” “It’s fine.” Riko said softly. She stopped short, nodding toward a small restaurant she’d led Nico to. “Um...this might be a good place to stop to eat. It’s small but the food is nice.” “You won’t come in with me?” Nico asked as Riko turned, seemingly to walk away from her. “I don’t even know your name.” Riko turned back to Nico with a small smile. “Sakurauchi Riko.” “Riko.” Nico echoed softly. “Will you come and eat with me? Come on, I don’t know anyone else in this town.” Riko pursed her lips to hold back a laugh. “I um...don’t know if I should. I don’t really know you and well….I don’t know.” “Yazawa Nico.” Nico teasingly held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Riko.” “What?” Riko stared at Nico in surprise for a moment. She numbly took her hand and gasped as Nico pulled her in close, kissing one of her cheeks. “I-I um…” “Sorry.” Nico said softly, smiling at Riko’s shock. “Habit. I’ve lived in France for a while, remember.” “I-It’s not that, I’m just…” Riko paused, unsure as to whether she should tell the truth. “Um...I feel like I’ve heard your name before.” Nico’s smile faded slightly and she let go of Riko’s hand. “Let me guess, you’re a school idol.” Riko nodded. “Well that would be how you’ve heard of me.” Nico said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Anyway, I’m not a school idol anymore. I haven’t been for a long time.” She looked over her shoulder at the restaurant. “Are you sure you won’t come in with me? I want to hear more about you.” “About me?” Riko asked in surprise. She wasn’t sure why someone like Nico would want to hear about her but it was touching that she did. “Um...sure.” Nico grinned and grabbed Riko’s hand again. She tugged her into the restaurant and they quickly found a small table in the corner to sit at. The waitress wandered over right away and they ordered their drinks. “So.” Nico said, leaning back in her seat. “What else do you like doing?” “Um...I play the piano.” Nico laughed at that. “Oh man, you really are her. Do you compose?” “No, my friend Mari-chan is our composer.” Riko said with a shake of her head. She was tempted to ask about Maki, given that she had figured out that was who Nico was comparing her to but she resisted the urge, not wanting to bring up painful memories. Nico leaned a bit closer to Riko, their eyes locked intently. “Your eyes...they tell a story about someone who isn’t sure about what they want. Do you want to talk about it?” Riko swallowed thickly. “I-I barely know you.” “Sometimes strangers are the best people to talk to.” Nico lightly touched Riko’s hand. “Come on, whatever you have to say can’t be that bad. I’ve done some pretty bad things too, you know.” Riko felt her composure crumble at the gentle touch, her throat aching and her eyes watering. As she broke into tears she reached up, covering her eyes with her forearm. “I just don’t know what I want.” She said tearfully. “I love playing piano but I’m not really good. I get nervous and now that someone I thought I liked is no longer close to me I feel I’m losing my last inspiration to play. Like I said I’m not even composing the songs, I’m just...a help. I don’t really do anything.” “Play for me.” Nico requested softly, giving Riko’s hand a light squeeze. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be here. I haven’t decided yet. But I want you to play for me before I leave.” Riko sniffled as she looked at Nico. “O-Okay.” She realized what she was doing and quickly wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry, I don’t usually do this in front of people I’ve just met.” “So you’re saying I’m special.” Nico smirked teasingly. She didn’t wait for a response from Riko though. “It’s fine, I don't mind. Let’s just order, okay?” “Yeah.” Riko slowly allowed herself to relax. “Okay.” She fell silent for a moment as Nico waved the waitress over. The two ordered and when the waitress left, Riko chanced another glance up at Nico. “My friend used to have a poster of your...group on her door. You look a lot different.” “Thanks?” Nico said hesitantly. She tried not to picture what that poster would have looked like, with the others and Honoka. “I felt like a change after high school. I used to have to fit the idol persona but they’re called school idols for a reason.” “Right.” Riko said quietly. Much like everyone with an interest in school idols she knew what had happened within Muse, with their leader getting sick and eventually dying of her illness. “Well this look suits you.” “Thanks.” Nico said again, a smirk tugging at her lips as she leaned back. “You’re not so bad yourself, you know.” Riko blushed at the compliment. “I thought you weren’t hitting on me?” Nico gave a soft laugh. “If that’s how you react to something like that, I’d love to see how you react to me actually flirting with you.” Riko swallowed heavily. “You...still haven’t let go of my hand.” “Do you want me to?” Nico quipped. Nevertheless, she drew her hand away, letting it fall back to her lap. She drew something from her pocket and slid it over to Riko. “Here. Before I forget to give this to you.” Riko looked down. A business card was sitting in front of her, on the table. “Your phone number…?” “Well you promised you’d let me listen to you play.” Nico said with a shrug of her shoulders. She gave a soft laugh as Riko blushed once more.

-------

Maki took a slow breath as she straightened her laptop in front of her. She wondered how long it had been since she’d spoken to Rin. It had been a long time, she knew that much. During their last two years of high school they had barely spoken. She’d hadn’t spoken with Hanayo much either. She felt hands on her shoulder and then Kotori was leaning down behind her, their cheeks brushing together. “I’m going to bed.” Kotori whispered, gently rubbing Maki’s shoulders. “Are you going to be okay?” “Yeah.” Maki said softly as she looked up at Kotori. “Yeah, of course. It’s just Rin.” Kotori lightly kissed Maki on the lips. “If you need me I’ll be in the bedroom.” Maki nodded and watched as Kotori turned and left. She waited until the bedroom door closed behind her girlfriend before she turned to her laptop. Trying not to think too much about it, she pressed the button to skype call Rin. It rang for a few minutes and Maki wasn’t sure Rin was going to pick up. She hadn’t warned her that she was going to call, after all. As she continued to wait for Rin to pick up she double checked the time difference. It was one in the morning in Japan, meaning it was eight in the morning in America. “Maki-chan?” Maki flinched as the skype call was finally answered. She flicked back to it on her laptop and paused when she saw Rin. The girl was jogging, her ponytail swinging behind her. “Your hair got longer.” “Uh...yeah.” Rin seemed to adjust her grip on her phone. Lifting her other hand, she used her sweatband to wipe her forehead. “What’s up? You wouldn’t call me unless...” She stopped short, alarm finding it’s way to her face. “What happened?” “Nothing, everyone is fine.” Maki said quickly, not wanting Rin to get the wrong idea. “I need to ask you for a favor.” “Now? I’m kind of busy. I’m practicing.” Rin said as she went back to jogging. As the phone moved, Maki could make out a track behind Rin, suggesting she was running on campus. “I need you to come back to Japan.” She blurted out. “Huh?” Rin frowned in confusion. “What do you mean? Why would I come back there? Are you not telling me something? Is someone sick? Is it Kotori-chan?” “NO!” Maki exclaimed quickly, her voice raising at the idea of that. “No, it’s not that. Um...it’s about Honoka.” “Honoka-chan?” Rin once again ground to a halt. Deciding to take a break for a few minutes, she walked over to the bleachers and sank down. She picked up the bottle of water she’d left there and pressed it to her forehead. “I don’t understand.” “I’m sorry.” Maki said sincerely. “I don’t really know how to explain all of this, it’s just...we need you back here. For...a reunion concert?” “You’re lying.” Rin retorted bluntly. “And I wouldn’t want to do that. Muse isn’t Muse without Honoka-chan. I can’t believe you would even…” “Okay, okay. It’s not that, I’m sorry!” Maki exclaimed quickly, seeing that Rin was getting upset. “I’m sorry, okay? But...it is for Honoka in a way. Eli is back in Japan.” “Good.” Rin said with a soft sigh of relief. “And we need you to come back because she’s leaving again soon.” Maki lied, hoping Rin would believe her this time. She felt bad for doing it but it couldn’t be helped. “And…” “Maki-chan, you’re a terrible liar. I’m hanging up now.” Maki cursed under her breath. “Wait, wait. Okay, fine. Just hear me out. Honoka needs you. She needs all of us.” Rin lowered her eyes. “Honoka-chan is dead. This isn’t funny.” “Am I lying though?” Maki asked expectantly. She watched as Rin looked up, seemingly staring at her intently. “Rin, please. Nozomi and Umi are here too. We just need you, Hanayo, Nico and Eli.” “You sound crazy.” Rin said with a shake of her head. “You know I hate bullshit, especially…” “I know!” Maki said as Rin trailed off. “But damn it, I’m begging you. Just come over. Give me a day! I’ll even pay for your plane tickets!” “Fine!” Rin finally relented with a huff. “But it better be important. I have track meets! I’ll call you later.” “Ri-” Maki was cut off by Rin abruptly hanging up on her. She sighed and slumped back in her seat. “That went well…”

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“I um...have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Eli rolled her eyes as she watched Maki get up and head down the aisle to the bathroom. Looking over her shoulder she noticed that Kotori wasn’t in her seat either. “Of course.” She muttered. She paused for a moment before she decided to get up herself. The fasten seatbelt sign was no longer on so she was free to go where she liked. Quickly, she made her way to the seats a few rows back and sat down next to Honoka. “Where did you go?” Honoka mumbled without opening her eyes. “You’ve been gone for a while.” “I think she went to make out with Maki in the bathroom.” Eli answered with a smirk. Honoka’s eyes sprung open. “Eli-senpai!” She exclaimed happily. “What are you doing over here?” “I came to keep you company. Kotori’s probably going to be a while.” Eli said with a roll of her eyes. She leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to Honoka’s forehead. “How are you feeling?” “Um…” Honoka hesitated for a moment. “My head hurts. And I feel kind of nauseous but I think that might just be from flying.” “I feel a bit sick too.” Eli murmured with a nod of her head. “I wonder how those two can handle screwing in the bathroom.” Honoka made a face. “I don’t need to think about that, especially when I can���t do that myself. We’re not going to get much time to ourselves at the hotel…” “I’ll kick Nico out.” Eli said with a grin. “We need to get her a girlfriend.” Honoka gave a gentle laugh and shifted closer to Eli, resting her head lightly on her shoulder. “How do you know she likes girls?” “How do you know she doesn’t?” Eli countered, raising an eyebrow. “Besides I’m pretty sure she was into Nozomi at one point.” “Nico-chan and Nozomi-chan?” Honoka thought about that for a few seconds, nodding thoughtfully. “I guess that would make sense. Nico-chan is a bit hot-headed. Nozomi-chan would be able to keep her calm. Nozomi-chan is with Umi-chan now though. Do you think she might be interested in Nico-chan too?” “There’s a lot I can say about Nozomi right now but she’s not a cheater.” Eli said, irritation slipping into her voice. “And she wouldn’t be with Umi if she wanted Nico.” She looked over her shoulder, noticing a line forming outside of the bathroom. “Those two nerds are going to hold up the bathroom. Who would have thought Kotori could be so bad. Or Maki…” “Maki-chan isn’t surprising.” Honoka said with a shrug of her shoulders. “When we were…’dating’ she wanted to make out in the piano room. And in an empty classroom between classes…” She trailed off as Eli turned to frown at her. “Oh. Sorry. If it makes you feel better you’re a way better kisser.” Eli’s lips turned up at that but then they heard a moan from the bathroom and the smile slipped away. “Crap. I should go and get them.” “You don’t have to.” Honoka nodded over Eli’s shoulder. Eli looked up in time to see Nozomi storming down the aisle, an annoyed expression on her face. She relaxed slightly, a sense of familiarity settling over her. At least they were still the parental figures of the other members of Muse. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth against a laugh, noticing Nozomi mouthing that she was going to kill Maki. Nozomi got to the floor and rapped loudly on it. A moment later, a rather disheveled Maki appeared. Her button down shirt was untucked, three of the buttons at the top undone while her pants were only zipped, not buttoned. Kotori stumbled after her, her ribbon missing from her hair and her skirt wrinkled, like it had been pushed up then hastily tugged back down. Eli watched as Nozomi said something and the two blushed before Nozomi tugged Maki by the ear back to her seat. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.” Maki cringed as Nozomi tugged her down the aisle. On her way past Umi, Nozomi seemed to apologize before she went to sit next to Maki. “You can take the seat next to Umi.” Eli pointed out when Kotori returned to Honoka. “I’m going to stay with Honoka. Unlike someone I’m not going to leave her to have sex.” Kotori couldn’t think of an answer to that. She bowed her head. “Sorry, Honoka-chan.” She mumbled before she wandered off to take a seat next to a furiously blushing Umi. “That was mean.” Honoka said with a soft giggle as she wrapped an around around Eli’s waist. “Well they have to learn.” Eli shrugged, smirking as Umi seemed to shrink away from Kotori slightly in embarrassment. “Otherwise they’re going to end up fined or arrested.” “I thought Nozomi would have teased them about it.” Honoka said as she watched Nozomi and Maki. From the way Nozomi was talking and Maki was staring at the floor, her shoulders slumped it was clear that some kind of lecture was going on. “Poor Maki-chan.” “Nozomi tends to be more serious when it comes to being arrested.” Eli sighed and shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about Nozomi. She didn’t even want to look at her but Honoka seemed captivated by the discussion going on. Eli watched as Maki tugged on her grey jacket and Nozomi grabbed the younger girl’s phone. “No sexting either.” Nozomi’s voice was just loud enough for them and several other people to hear and Honoka burst out laughing. Kotori slumped down in her seat as Umi scowled and started her own lecture about why she should be more responsible in a public place and what the consequences could have been for Muse AND the other passengers. “Umi-chan still hasn’t done it yet.” Kotori teased, interrupting Umi mid-sentence. “KOTORI!” Kotori smirked and glanced at Nozomi who was watching them out of the corner of her eye. She winked at her and turned her attention back to Umi. “I thought Nozomi would take you already since she’s the most perverted out of all of us.” Nozomi’s face turned bright red. “Kotori-chan, what are you talking about?!” “Nothing.” Kotori said innocently as Umi started to tug her collar further up her neck. “Just some girl talk between best friends.” Maki laughed at the look on Nozomi’s face. She turned in her seat, looking around at Kotori. “I love you.” “Enough, both of you!” Nozomi exclaimed loudly. “Now I know why Nicocchi said nobody can share with their girlfriend.” Nico perked up. “TOLD YA!” “Miss, please be quiet.” A passing flight attendant said, causing Nico to frown. “It’s like Umi-chan and I are the only responsible couple.” Nozomi said with a roll of her eyes. “Hey, we are too!” Honoka called from her seat, earning herself a few annoyed looks from other passengers. “MISS!” “S-Sorry.” Honoka said sheepishly, slumping back down in her seat. She lowered her voice slightly. “I think it’s time for most of us to go to sleep. Rin and Hanayo are already.” “Yeah and they’re both sleeping on my shoulders!” Nico scowled. “MISS!” “Sorry, sorry…” Nico grumbled, rolling her eyes as the flight attendant berated them once more. “As I was saying, you need to be more responsible.” Nozomi told Kotori as she looked over at her. “Please.” Kotori scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “If Umi-chan wouldn’t freak out you wouldn’t hesitate to pin her to a wall and have your w-” “KOTORI!” Umi whisper yelled. “We’re in public!” “They’re all sleeping.” Kotori said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Or they have headphones on. Besides, you can’t say you don’t feel the same way. Nozomi-chan is hot.” “W-Well I do but…” “You do?” Nozomi asked in surprise. “I mean so do I but...I mean I don’t want to rush into anything. Not that I would feel rushed or anything but...I mean you. I don’t want to rush you.” Kotori smirked in response. “Seems like someone has been holding herself back. Must be driving you crazy.” “Why don’t you sit next to Umi and talk about that?” Maki suggested hopefully. “I guess Kotori could sit next to me and you two can talk about whatever you need to talk about. Umi looks like she wants to say something, doesn’t she?” “Nice try.” Nozomi said with a roll of her eyes. “We’ll talk about this later, Umi-chan.” Umi smiled and nodded, settling back in her seat. Kotori huffed out a sigh and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Kotori.” Maki called, successfully drawing Kotori’s attention back to her. “It’s Umi who has it bad. Nozomi can control herself. Umi can’t. I should have taken a picture of her pinning you to the wall that time I walked in on you two.” “I’m going to kill you in your sleep.” Nozomi muttered as Umi spluttered out her innocence. “T-That’s not true.” Umi spluttered. “Go Umi-chan!” Honoka hollered from where she was sitting with Eli. “Miss, for the last time, be QUIET!” Eli grabbed Honoka’s hand and tugged her back down into her seat. “Okay time for bed everyone. Especially you troublemakers.” She looked pointedly between Maki and Kotori. Thankfully the two quietened down. Eli closed her eyes and angled herself more toward Honoka, letting Honoka sink into her, huddling against her chest. Eli positioned Kotori’s pillow behind her, ignoring the girl’s protests that she needed it. It wasn’t long before Honoka dozed off but Eli couldn’t force herself to sleep. She glanced at Nozomi and Maki and found Maki lying down with her head in Nozomi’s lap, the third year gently stroking her hair. Eli shifted ever so slightly to check on Umi and Kotori too. Kotori’s head was resting on Umi’s shoulder while Umi had tilted her head to rest atop Kotori’s. They seemed to be sleeping soundly, much like Maki. A glance at Nico had her chuckling softly. Rin and Hanayo were sleeping huddled against her, each with an arm around her waist. As unhappy as Eli was sure Nico would be, she was sound asleep anyway, leaving only herself and Nozomi the only two awake. She quickly closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.

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Maki was surprised when she opened her apartment door and found not Hanayo but Chika and Kanan standing in front of her. “Oh…It’s you two.” She frowned. “What are you doing here?” “I want to get started!” Chika exclaimed brightly. “Can we come in?” “Don’t you have Love Live to focus on?” Maki asked dryly. “Thanks!” Chika ducked past Maki into the apartment. “We have the day off. Besides, Honoka-chan is more important than Love Live. More important than saving our school even.” Maki groaned as she allowed Kanan to walk into the apartment. “I’m going to fail my classes if this keeps happening.” “Do you have a photographic memory, Maki-chan?” Chika asked expectantly. She turned to smile warmly at Maki. “Besides, priorities. If we change the past this won’t be happening right now so that means you’ll be studying instead. Maybe you won’t even want to study what you are now. Maybe you’ll...” “Chika.” Kanan interrupted pointedly. “Right, sorry. Um...where’s everyone else?” Chika asked, glancing around. “Wow, this is a really nice apartment.” “Nozomi and Umi are on holiday.” Maki explained slowly. “Winter break. So they’ve gone out to make the most of it, I think.” “So they’re sightseeing?” Chika asked with a hint of skepticism. “We need to be here though.” “Umi-chan wanted to go and talk to Honoka.” Kotori’s sleepy voice sounded from across the room. “She went to visit her grave.” Chika glanced at Kotori, her eyes widening as the girl wandered into the room. Having just woken up she was only wearing panties and a shirt that was only closed with a couple of buttons in the middle, leaving her midriff on show and exposing a fair amount of cleavage. “Whoa…” Maki glared at Chika. “Watch it.” “Huh? Oh right. Sorry.” Chika quickly averted her eyes. “So you were studying, huh?” Kanan quipped, raising an eyebrow. Maki huffed and crossed her arms. “I was about to. Not that that’s any of your business. She just fell asleep after...ugh, why am I telling you this?!” “It’s a gift.” Kanan said with a smug smile. Maki’s gaze trailed to Kotori who was shuffling over to the coffee maker. She bit her lip as the shirt rode up, exposing Kotori’s ass. Quickly she remember that Kanan and Chika were there. Luckily for them when she glanced at them they were both averting their eyes. “Kotori, can you put some clothes on? Please?” “I need coffee.” Kotori pouted as Maki walked over to grip her shoulders and turn her around. Maki’s gaze shifted down. Being so close to Kotori she could easily see down her shirt. Kotori took advantage of Maki’s distraction and gripped her hips, pulling her in close. “Like what you see?” She asked in a husky whisper as she kissed the redhead’s neck. She smirked in satisfaction at Maki’s answering whimper. “Knock, knock, knock.” Maki and Kotori pulled away from each other at the sound of another voice. Looking over to the door they found Hanayo standing in the open doorway. “Hey.” Hanayo said with a small smile as she stepped into the room. Kotori quickly tugged Maki back in front of her. “You didn’t tell me she was coming! I’m practically naked!” “What? So Hanayo you care about but these two you can walk around naked in front of…” Maki said with a roll of her eyes. “And they’re teenagers! And one of them was gawking at your boobs the whole time!” “Maki-chan, you jerk!” Kotori pouted, grasping Maki’s arms to keep her in front of her. “I don’t care about what they think, but it’s Hanayo-chan!” Hanayo smiled at their antics. It seemed some things hadn’t changed. “I see I came at the wrong time. Good thing I brought…” “Hanayo, I think these chocolates melted all over the backseat. It’s dripping out of the box somehow. I guess we shouldn’t have put the heat on.” “You brought a BOY?!” Kotori exclaimed as a dark haired male appeared in the doorway. “What?” Hanayo glanced between Kotori and Raven who had already turned his back. “Oh please, he only sees me naked. This is Raven, my boyfriend.” “It’s nice to meet you both.” Raven said, lifting his hand in a wave without turning back to them. “I’m going to get changed.” Kotori said before she hurried off to the bedroom. “We can come back later if you’re busy.” Hanayo said, glancing at Kanan and Chika. “You seem to have company.” “Oh...no, they’re staying. Come in, it’s fine.” Maki said with a shake of her head. “Um, can I come in or…?” Raven trailed off as Hanayo grabbed his hand and tugged him into the apartment. He closed the door behind him. He turned to face forward, holding up the chocolates in his hand. “Uh...we brought a gift but we blasted the heat in the car on the way over so they kind of melted.” “Um...thanks.” Maki said, taking the box of chocolates. She placed them on the side, not wanting to rudely throw them in the trash right in front of the couple. “I told you she was straight.” Chika whispered, nudging Kanan who rolled her eyes. “Bisexual actually but close.” Hanayo answered, glancing at Chika. “She was dating a girl before me.” Raven chimed in, in agreement. “I won her heart though.” Hanayo fondly rolled her eyes at him but she was more focused on Chika. “You’re Chika, aren’t you?” “Uh…” Chika grimaced. “Yeah. Yeah, I am. This is my girlfriend, Kanan-chan.” Hanayo smiled fakely, her eyes closed and Maki shuddered. She knew that smile. Shivers ran down her spine as she remembered the last time Hanayo had smiled like that. After Honoka had died, Hanayo had started to fake her smiles and cheerful tones at school. It was part of the many reasons she and Maki had grown distant. Raven leaned toward Maki, lowering his voice to a whisper. “That’s her ‘I really don’t like you but my boyfriend is here so I’ll play along’ look. She’s actually seething.” “I know.” Maki whispered back as Chika and Kanan shifted uncomfortably. “She slapped someone in junior year when provoked. All with that smile.” “She’s scary when she’s mad.” Raven mumbled, glancing at Hanayo. “At least she’s stable.” Maki mused as she noticed Kotori wander out of the bedroom and move to greet Hanayo with a hug. “I’m guessing Kotori-san is a handful?” Raven asked curiously. “Sometimes. But she’s stable.” Maki answered with a shrug of her shoulders. “Hanayo’s told me about her. About...Chika.” Raven said with a nod toward Chika. “Not specifics, just...that she hates her. And that she was involved with...well, you know. I don’t want to bring it up but maybe putting those two together isn’t a good idea.” “It has to be done.” Maki sighed and stepped forward, taking Hanayo’s hand. Kotori glanced at Raven as Maki tugged Hanayo into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. “Not a good sign?” “Nope.” “What the hell is that fucking bitch doing here?! Do you know I’m shaking? I’m fucking SHAKING, Maki-chan! WHY IS SHE HERE?!” Kotori, Raven, Chika and Kanan cringed at the loud exclamation from the bedroom. “C-Calm down, don’t be crazy, Hanayo.” Maki said warily, her voice harder to hear than Hanayo’s. “She’s lucky Raven is here or I wouldn’t be so damn NICE!” Hanayo yelled angrily. “You haven’t answered me! Why is she even here?!” “Um...I’d rather we all explain together.” Maki said with a wince. “Nozomi and Umi should be back soon. They…” “Do THEY KNOW about this?! How can you even let her into your apartment?! She KILLED HONOKA-CHAN! You know what, I’m not doing this.” The door to Maki’s bedroom was wrenched open a moment later and Hanayo stormed across the room to Chika. Kanan moved to step forward but Chika held her arm out, stopping her. A second later, Hanayo lifted her hand and delivered a sharp slap to Chika’s face. “I deserved that.” Chika mumbled, her eyes watering. “Damn right, you did!” Hanayo yelled as Raven walked over to her, lightly tugging her away. “Do you have any idea what you did to us? To HONOKA-CHAN?!” “Of course she knows!” Kanan, who had turned Chika to face her so she could look at her cheek, retorted, shooting a brief glare at Hanayo. “Why do you think she’s here?” “Just hear her out.” Maki said quietly as she paused next to Kotori. Hanayo scoffed and looked directly at Chika. “I don’t know what you did to convince Maki-chan but me and Rin-chan are going to be harder to crack.” “You are going to pick her up in two days, right?” Maki checked thoughtfully. “Yeah, yeah.” Hanayo grumbled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Oh and she’s bringing her best friend from America too.” “Fine. Ugh, the apartment is going to be so cramped.” Maki muttered, glancing around. She wondered if Nico would end up staying there too when they finally managed to track her down. “You’re rich and it has space.” Hanayo pointed out skeptically. “This is KOTORI’S!” Maki exclaimed loudly. “I told you that on the phone. Listen, just...you can stay if you want. We have one bedroom left. Rin can sleep on the air mattress in my study or something. I guess if she’s best friends with this girl they can just sleep together.” Hanayo smirked and raised an eyebrow. “You know Rin-chan has a crush on her, right?” Maki groaned in exasperation. “Whatever. We’re sticking with the plan.” “Those two.” Hanayo jerked her thumb in the direction of Chika and Kanan. “Aren’t going to be here, right?” Chika sighed loudly but she was saved from replying when her phone chimed with an alert. She tugged it out of her pocket, her brow furrowing when she noticed it was a news alert. “Local has been spotted with international model, Nico-chan. Hey, that looks like…” “RIKO!” Kanan exclaimed, looking closer at the picture. “It is!” “Wait, INTERNATIONAL?!” Chika exclaimed in surprise. “Nico-chan is that popular?!” “Somebody doesn’t read the fashion magazines.” Hanayo said snarkily. Chika looked up, stunned to see the others didn’t seem all that surprised. “Wait, you all know?” The others nodded. “Nozomi reads in french so yeah.” Maki answered with a shrug. Kotori chimed in after. “I follow her on twitter. The clothing she models inspires me. Most people only know Nico-chan as a model. Not even many people in Japan know her as an idol. Besides school idols.” “Rin-chan and I were practically her cheerleaders when she first started at eighteen.” Hanayo explained quietly. Chika frowned at Maki. “You told me that the rest of Muse didn’t talk anymore. Didn’t you say that Rin-chan and Hanayo-chan only spoke when they had to?” “But they still seem like best friends.” Kanan said thoughtfully. “You are, right?” Hanayo nodded her head. “Yeah. The time difference usually works out so we talk every couple of weeks.” “Muse was separated.” Maki pointed out, frowning at Chika’s implication. “I didn’t know what happened to Nico. Rin and Hanayo started ignoring me.” “US?!” Hanayo cried out in disbelief. “You threw yourself into fucking cram school and med books! You abandoned US! At least Nico-chan tried, even though she was a mess too! You were the one who kept acting as if everything was okay when in fact you were a wreck. You became obsessed with finding a cure for an incurable disease!” “FOR HONOKA!” “Honoka-chan was already DEAD, damn it! There was nothing you could do to save her when she was alive, what makes you think you can when she’s DEAD?!” Hanayo’s accusation had Maki reeling back but she didn’t pause to give the redhead time to reply. “Rin-chan ran into track the moment we disbanded but she was trying to take her mind off what had happened, like Honoka-chan wanted us to! You were OBSESSED with it! You’re lucky Kotori-chan was so patient with you. With the way you were acting, anyone else would have broken up with you! And what would you have done then?” Raven leaned toward Kotori. “Shouldn’t we…?” “Let them get it out.” Kotori said with a shake of her head. “It’s the first step to recovering. We should probably leave them alone...you have a car, right?” “I-I KNOW THAT!” Maki finally yelled after hesitating a moment. “I know if she wasn’t here I would be getting drunk off my ass right now!” Kotori cringed. She was relieved when Raven nodded yes to her question. “We should go and pick up some food for when they’re done if you don’t mind driving.” “Sure.” Raven shrugged his shoulders. “Uh…” Kanan stepped forward slightly. “Can we…?” “Yes, you can come along.” Kotori said with a nod of her head. “Let’s just go.” Maki and Hanayo didn’t notice the other four leave the apartment. “I didn’t abandon you.” Maki said, her voice low and angry. “The two of you just expected me to be fine after Honoka died. You two were allowed to be as broken as you wanted but you expected me to be steady. I wasn’t a damn robot, Hanayo. I loved Honoka too, just as much as the rest of you. Maybe even more than some of you. I even dated her for a bit, you know?” Hanayo’s eyes went wide with surprise. “What?!” “The whole Chika thi-” “Shut up! Just...shut up. I don’t want to hear it.” Hanayo turned on her heel and stormed into her temporary bedroom, slamming the door behind her. “Damn it.” Maki stumbled back, barely managing to find her way to the couch before she collapsed down onto it, in tears. “DAMN IT!”

TBC

[processbmxmag]

WHAT’S GOOD?! TROY COOPER

By Rich Hirsch

Troy has been putting his community on the map for a while now and has recently started a new project called YOUREWLCOME so we/I caught up with him briefly to get a little insight on the project. 

Where are you from and what’s your favorite food?

I’m from Murrieta, CA and my favorite food is anything with noodles involved lul

I know Murrieta has always had a pretty thriving BMX scene but hadn’t heard about the noodles? Are the comparable? 

Hahaha it’s def close in comparison 

If you had to pick one noodle dish to eat for the rest of your life and one camera to film with what would your choices be? 

Psh that a tuff question probably pho! This place out here that my lady and I go to has a meeeaan veggie pho. Camera wise I probably would do a hmc150. 

I just have grown to really love this camera and how you can make it look. Shout out Steph for helping me make my shit look good 

Solid choices man... How did you get into filming? 

I got into filming from a young age I guess. I remember being a little kid and playing with my great grandmas old hi8. I always wanted one when I was young. I just wanted to be involved in a different way. 

What made me get one was hobies welcome to animal video. The vx was so good and I loved the raw ness. That’s also when I stetted hanging out with Steph and he talked me into buying one 

Same here... I used geek out over camera gear as a kid for some reason 

Who are the main guys you film with since you started out?

Yeah I can’t explain why I had such a fascination for it really Interesting how it led me to this point in my life lul. 

I film a lot with Steph, Tyler Veatch, JP Ross, HIlario Olivos , Mark Gonzales, bunch of dudes. 

It’s interesting how the local filmer to an extent is like the glue that holds a lot of scenes together.

With everyone having iPhones and video platforms individualism is becoming more and more prevalent. Have you noticed it becoming any more difficult to get people to film for the big camera or  save clips for non social vids?

Ugh not really honestly atleast with the dudes they separate bangers on the cam to bangers on the phone very well. 

These dudes are some what old school when it comes to that I would say. 

That’s cool always nice when the homies just get it. Hopefully we can keep spreading the importance of not needing  “IG” or instant gratification every second of every day to the younger generations haha. 

You’ve recently started a new project called Yourewlcome... Can you share the motivation behind this and a bit about what you’d like it to become? 

Yeah I think it helps you be a better biker but also a better person. It helps you see what’s important and what’s not in a way. Having patients is a good thing to have. 

Yeah so yourewlcome is a media page. It’s purpose it to help support bmx and the kids in bmx. It’s all organic content that comes from my self. It’s another way to show bmx while maybe not being totally focused on reposting and stuff like that. 

I want it to be a hub for bmx also I would say. Just something that really represents bmx and a whole. The rawness I feel that is lacking in bmx right now. 

That’s cool man we’re definitely trying to do the same. Are you working mostly with riders you already know or trying to get people all over involved? 

I am working with dudes I know but right now trying to branch out to others. I want bmx to involved not just the homies. 

Yeah that’s why I think what you do is so cool. It’s just different you know the zines are super cool idea. As many people that have done zines you know I feel like yours is a new age magazine. 

That’s good to hear, more people working together to build up the culture and community can only make it a better experience for everyone involved.

Also, thanks! I’m hoping to go down a similar road and shine a light on what people like yourself and others with new and/or interesting perspectives are doing in BMX, and I enjoy making stuff haha. 

Do you have any near or distant future Yourewlcome project plans you can share? 

Yeah bmx need people that care about the way it looks. For sure thanks for having me do this man I appreciate that a lot. Yeah making stuff is awesome that’s why I do it. Ugh I’m dropping a park video with Tyler, jp, Bryan, and Hilario on the 8th. Other then that I mean I’m gong to work on another mixtape but I’m gunna take more time with this one. Got interviews lined up. Also wanna make that zine from sanctuary that was such a good time dude. 

Cool stoked to see it when it drops and let’s scheme on the zine maybe we can print it for you as a section in the next Process or something. 

Where can riders etc. that want to get involved with Yourwelcome reach out to you? 

DUDE THAT WOULD BE SO COOL! If they wanna get involved in anyway just DM me lol. @yourewlcome that’s probably the easiest. 

Thanks Troy, keep on keeping on! See ya soon!